Winter's End
by Taotatum
Summary: When a lonely prophet has few options left to him and comes to the seemingly perfect town, he finds himself caught up in a gruesome legend of betrayal, lust, and murder. Can he play hero for the boy who's never been out of his gilded cage? 2x4.
1. Prolog And into Fayllen

((Hi there. Well, first the necessary warning, though if you are reading this on a site, by now you -must- suspect out of all the millions of fans out there, I'm not that one lucky person who owns this show. -pouts- Though seriously, we need to clone the pilots and each keep one. Anyways -- I don't own it, am not doing this for profit (but feed back is -so- adored), and even if the makers -did- sue me, they'd be getting nothing but a well loved collection of gundam collectors items anyway. So, please don't? Hope you enjoy the fic, it's my first one ever.  
  
General little stuff.  
  
The first chapter, prelude really, is in first person view. Enjoy, none of the others are. . It's just to get an idea across, then we get into the story. It is also the shortest section by quite a bit. And I will not be posting at the top of each chapter. You probably started with this one, so yeah, repetitive is boring.))  
  
_Hi._ - Thoughts.

-And into Fayllen-  
  
The air was frigid around me. That kind of cold pre-winter, just before the sun rises morning air that actually burns coming in and leaves you in a perfectly shaped little puff when you position your lips just right. It was chilly enough that beneath my make-shift cloak and far too thin shirt, I could feel knobs of flesh rising into painful goose bumps.   
  
Today was probably going to be the first day of the season where hard working farmers would rise just a little later in the morn, then start to batten down windows and make sure their lands were prepared for ground frost tomorrow, and the people in the castle would be dashing around and laying thick, wool blankets over fancy royal beds while a large fireplace crackled warmly nearby and the future leaders of the country slept on. Outside both of these incredibly different lives and homes, both wood planks and well shaped stone bricks were covered with a thin layer of ice and would sting any person's questing who dared to touched before the golden sun rose and sent the cold scurrying away for one more day. In short, the kind of morning where I truly needed to get down to work and finally find a place for myself.  
  
I suppose I'd been putting it off far to long this time, but since I'd still had a small bag of gold hanging from my belt from my last position, once again I'd taken that as an excuse to slack off. I did that each time I moved on or was told to move on, and each time I reminded myself not too. Undoubtedly next time would be exactly the same. It's not easy to remember mornings like this when you are laying on your back in some comfy inn bed and staring up at the rafters above you as the last of that thick honey wine you had last fades from your system and leaves your mind pristine and clear. Not easy at all, but I should know well enough to try. The gold always runs out too quickly and then it's back to another dusty road for me.  
  
My last 'job' had actually lasted about six months before they'd asked me to leave in that kind, 'go now or we'll tie you up and send you out' way, a record by my count. It's not that I'm a bad person or anything, far from it actually! I may be a bit strange, and I'll admit my language can be damned course when given half a chance, and sure I look a little wild with my hair hanging in a loose braid down past my butt and my large eyes that I've been told look just a little too much like a fey's too be coincidence, but that's just small things I can't help and don't try too. Mostly it's that a lot of people don't feel uncomfortable with me around, and what I do for a living doesn't help that at all. There's just something about a half blood prophet that rubs a hell of a lot of people the wrong way in an amazingly short period of time. I don't blame them either, I bug myself given the right circumstances, but that's neither here nor there, right?   
  
In any case, that lost job had been for the king in a country several dozen days travel from here, an unhappy and strict older fellow who was hell bent on capturing the land near his and making them his own, and had really wanted any kind of extra advantage he could get. It was one of those rare times I was actually hunted down for my services. I told him what he wanted to hear, which was the truth, and he moved on it. Within two months he'd quadrupled his lands and had a few thousand more followers living there. He couldn't gotten rid of me after that, but he wanted to be certain that none of the nobles he'd scared from their great mansions were holed up somewhere plotting his death. So, I stayed. I helped him find them, then I let him know what people were going to be trouble for him, and what communities were doubting his actions, and got paid really well for it. Blood money in some cases, like the nobles, but otherwise just your average job. He paid me well, but towards the end of those six months I could tell the money coming into my drafty little tower room was going to stop soon and I started hording it up for the inevitable. Five days later Mister 'I'm too powerful now to need a dirty thing like you as help' himself came strutting in with a few armed guards and informed me my services were no longer required and I was to be gone by tomorrow, then dropped my last little bag of money on the floor and went marching back down the winding stairs and into his clean castle and new life. I guess I'm still a little bitter about that one.  
  
I was gone before night even fell, muttering and cursing to myself as I headed out of town and towards the little hamlet just a few miles away. I spent the first night too drunk to stand and in the arms of some dirty woman I paid god knows how much just to touch me… I was lucky I had my all my money when I woke if you ask me, but then again, she was pretty tipsy too. That still didn't stop the look of disgust that crossed her features when my dressing woke her though. Like I said, I just rub some people the wrong way. I think two gold, and outrageous price even when you do -do- the act, was worth it just to be held for one night by a stranger. Every now and then I just need to be reminded I'm not dead, you know?  
  
Now as I walked through the leafless (and soon to be lifeless) trees, it was strangely back to her and the few others I'd done the same with that my mind turned. I don't think anyone can talk about rejection until they've had a woman run shrieking from the bedroom before you even took off your clothes, now that is insulting. I know it's not because I'm ugly, because modesty laid aside, I know I'm not. I've looked in a mirror. I could be wanted by a lot of people, I think. Hell, a lot of people have even given me tentative compliments, mostly about my hair before wincing back and moving on. If not for that demon blood within me and the generally dark aura that clings to my skin like a second shirt, I bet I'd be married to some wealthy broad and living on easy street. As it was though, I couldn't even sell myself if I tried. They might pay, but they'd change their minds before they got back to the inn or their house and I give it back without a word. I tried that once or twice when the money got really low and there didn't seem to be a new place to work right away… A person could starve to death with the luck I had at that business. That's not to say I've never known the more intimate touches of human life, I've managed that from time to time and I'm no virgin now, but there is a difference between sex and all the relationship stuff. I know sex, but romance, or at least my involvement in it, is somewhat of a mystery to me. The closest I can remember coming was on one of my first jobs when I was younger and just starting to decide I needed something more steady. I met some cute man while working for some noble and 'reading' his daughters futures. It was the guy's only son, this tall blonde with perfect hair nearly as long as mine is now, that I fell hard for… And for a while I thought he fell for me too. Being used is almost as bad as people screaming and running. That was one of the few times I left without being told too. Things just got way too tense watching the boy, Zechs his name was, walk around the house and look through me like I'd never existed in his world. That was also when I learned what I could and couldn't have. I could have temporary shelter, and I could have my dreams of holding someone and having them hold me back without a business agreement. I couldn't have a 'home' and I couldn't have love.  
  
I never had a chance with that beautiful icy blonde, I know that now… But I also can't forget that I thought I did at one time. I was a fool for him, running where ever he asked and practically doing cartwheels if only to get him to smile at me. But at least I knew better now. And actually as cruel as this morning was, it reminded me of that empty smile I last got from the noble's child as I walked out of that town and vowed not to return.

-----

It was three hours later that at last the line of hibernating trees broke around the dusty figure and he emerged into soft sunlight like a shadow. Just before the dark clad prophet down in the valley lay the beginning of the Northern kingdom of Fayllen, shining like a precious jewel after his desolate walk. Large violet eyes that were nearly lost beneath a thick black hood scanned over the tidy little homes with smoke rising over them and then lifted to the beautiful white structure that stood on a hill a quarter of a mile away and looked over the town like a guardian. It was actually glowing as the sun continued it's ascent into the pale sky, made of white marble if he had to take a guess, and probably one of the nicer castles he'd come across in his seventeen years of travel. This had promise. A kingdom that looked this wealthy and cozy right from first glance was bound to have some troubles that he could help with. And with that hopeful thought in mind, he began heading down the slope of dried grass and towards the first stone cobbled street that reached his way.


	2. The Kingdom of Sunshine and of Skeletons

-A Kingdom of Sunshine and of Skeletons-  
  
The town around him was filled with the usual early morning sounds that made you aware you were alive and the day was fresh and new. A creaking vegetable cart wheel just off to his left as a man headed to market with his crops. The delicious scent of fresh baked goods rose from an open window right next to him and made his stomach let out a growling cry as reminder of his last missed meal. The chatter from a group of young children as they went running by him and off on their next great adventure. Their innocent laughter caught in his mind and made Duo smile in spite of himself. That kind of sound had escaped him at a young age, and he vaguely missed it as one would a childhood friend. Laughter like that only came when you were too young to understand how cruel the world could be and were convinced you'd live forever.  
  
As he slowly made his way down the center of one well kept and also well worn street, pale hands came up and tucked back his foreboding hood. Intimidating people by looking like death itself had come to claim their town was not what he wanted. _Just your average traveler, don't mind me.  
_  
One thing he noticed quickly was that it seemed no matter where you were walking in this pleasant little burg, that large castle or at least part of it, was always visible. It had a comforting feel to it, that unshakable presence. In fact everything around him felt that way. It was too clean, and he wondered if he was really sticking out as bad as he thought he was. The dried dirt that clung to the faded brown fabric of his pants felt like it should be drawing all of these peasants eyes to him, and well as the hole hanging about halfway down what used to be his white shirt. He made a mental note that he really needed to use some of his money to get something new after this, then sighed and pushed the thoughts away for now. It was too late to worry about that for this time around.  
  
More of the tall buildings around him opened up rather like flowers as he made his way to the castle, and he paid good attention to what shops he saw with intentions of later visits. Eventually he arrived at the wooden drawbridge that served as entry to the castle and that was where he had to stop in awe. Up close the home of whoever ruled over these lands was even more beautiful then from his earlier perch on the hill top. Each of the four high white towers seemed to actually reach into the sky like a spiral straight to heaven and they were surprisingly clean. The bricks that made up the castle were small and perfectly formed, and it altogether it looked like something that would probably still be standing when men were nothing but myths and gods walked the earth. Dark blue banners slap far above them and his keen eyes picked out the unfamiliar white design of a unicorn with a knightly rider on each of them. _Well, it's better then blood red with crossed swords and the words 'go away' that's for certain, but why do I feel like I've just walked into someone else's fairy tale and I'm about to meet the crazy old witch that leaves in the tower and had cursed everyone?_ He surprised himself with a laugh at that thought, then shook his head and walked through the arch of stone and into the castle courtyard with a smirk still resting on his lips.  
  
The trees laying between the gateway and the large double doors that opened into the front hall of Fayllen castle were still lush and green, the type of plants that would live all year round whether the sun was streaming down on them or snow was covering their thick branches. He had to smile as he looked around at the currently empty stone flowerbeds and the delicately carved marble benches that laid scattered over these grounds, this place was beautiful. He almost expected to see faeries flying about or hear some woman singing sadly as she sat on that bench besides the halfway frozen pond across the yard and brushed her hair. That thought caused him to frown and study the dark blue body of water uncertainly. It was just too vivid, for a brief second he could almost -see- that woman and the streaks of tears glittering on her cheeks… His heart stopped dead in his chest as a hand fell heavily on his shoulder.  
  
"Who are you and what are you doing standing in the royal garden sightseeing?" Ground out a steady monotone from right beside Duo's ear.  
  
He winced at the surprising contact and twisted around in the grip to find himself face to face with a pair of very intense dark blue eyes… And those being set in a serious face under a mat of wild brown hair. _A guard_, Duo mused as his eyes drifted down and over the stiff blue uniform and sheathed sword at his side. But apparently he was taking to long in his answer to satisfy the young man whose hand was still locked onto him. He was rattled and then again that stony voice intoned, "Answer me. Who are you?"  
  
He frowned at that, then ducked to get that hand off him before straightening and answering in a deliberately light way, "Name's Duo. Lay off, okay? And I'm here because I have a service to offer the king. Now, could you be so kind as to lead the way there so I don't get distracted by your lovely castle again?"  
  
Judging by the look on the guard's face, he could guess that if he'd asked to see anyone but the king, this guy would flat out refuse and seen him out the door with a boot on his backside. Duo sighed and lifted his hands in an innocent gesture. "Look, I'm not a bad guy, and I'm not going to hurt him. I come of my own free will to see if I can give him any assistance with my peculiar talent."  
  
"What talent?" Came the sharp response from the brunette.  
  
Duo smirked a little. _Not much of a conversationalist, is he?_ "I can see certain events before they happen, and sometimes the past. And I can tell the outcome of a decision before it is officially made."  
  
All he got for that truthful information was a slightly raised eyebrow, and then the guard turned and stalked back towards the gate. Duo remained where he was and stared after him in confusion until the brunette stopped, turned, and barked out, "Are you coming or have you changed your mind about seeing the king?" And then he was grinning and jogging to come stand near his side. It was almost reassuring to know not everyone in town had this perfect attitude and person next door complex.

-----  
  
The inner hall, as he expected, was stunning. The roof had a cathedral style to it that came to a point at least a hundred feet over his head, and from that dangled a large and elaborate chandelier every ten or so feet. Several doors lay to either side, some opening and revealing a library or sitting room, but most closed against innocently peeping eyes. They proceeded down the midnight blue carpet that covered the entire length of the hall and came to a pair of half opened large doors before his tour guide stopped, looked back at him and then order in a voice that would not be denied- "Stay here. I'll tell the king you wish to see him. You are not to move. You are not to touch anything."  
  
Ah, it was good to feel welcome.  
  
But as the guard slipped through the doors and padded quietly away, he did do his best to comply. He clasped his hands behind himself and looked around the lovely chambers with a soft, if not slightly mischievous, smile. This was the kind of place someone dreamed all their life to live. He would kill to see some of the bedrooms here, and he would bet money that all of the beds had gorgeous canopies over them carved into some pretty scene. _Must be at least a hundred people employed here, maybe more. Maids, cooks, all the guards, stablemen then the grounds keepers and all the helpers to watch the royal brats. And of course the king's advisors, his wife's ladies… Hell, more likely about two hundred. Each castle makes me think of a little city inside a city. These places are more like dollhouses then a ruler ship. Everything looks so delicate and perfect, but no one but the dolls can really touch it. In a way, I think these people must be some of the loneliest and most disillusioned people in the world.  
_  
When a door halfway down the hall opened, he turned towards it instinctively… And that was when his world came to a crashing halt.  
  
The boy that stood just thirty feet away outside the slowly closing door looked like an angel. Hair that barely covered his ears shone like white gold under the dim light coming from the stain glass windows above, and the pale and flawless skin that was beautifully displayed by a robe-like garment furthered his heavenly appearance. There was something ethereal and somehow forsaken within that tragically innocent face, and it hit Duo almost painfully. Thoughts of dolls came flooding back into mind as his eyes drifted down the small, youthfully smooth arms and to the delicate hands were working together to hold a huge book of faerie tales of all things. He was short, but proportioned just right so it looked like something you expected to see behind am expensive shop window. As Duo raised his eyes again he realized the boy was looking right at him with a curious expression, but he didn't think to answer as he stared at the cherub cheeks and candy colored lips… And above those, a pair of stormy sea colored eyes that were inhumanly aware and too beautiful to behold.  
  
He noticed he was holding his breath and let it out with a shaky sigh as he lowered his gaze briefly to the ground and tried to collect himself. A few seconds later when he lifted his eyes the boy was gone. Duo jerked his head from side to side only to catch a glimpse of white fabric vanishing into a door. He jumped forward quickly with the intent to follow the being and learn more only to once again find himself yelping in surprise as a hand fell on his shoulder and stopped him. He could have growled in frustration as the now familiar voice spoke up, "The king has agreed to see you now."  
  
The prophet whirled around and stared up at cold cobalt blue eyes intently as he pointed a slim finger down the hall and asked- "Did you see that? Who was that boy?"  
  
"I didn't see a boy… I just saw you. About to walk off and directly disobey what I asked."  
  
He did growl then and lowered his head defeatedly. This guy was single minded, it was clear he'd be of -no- help whatsoever. Duo looked hopefully down the hall again, praying silently that the boy would be back again and he'd have some proof to start asking on, but the long corridor was empty and still as a grave. Not wanting to risk getting himself shaken again he turned to his charming escort and nodded dully, "Fine, please take me to him… And I'm sorry I started off. I thought I saw something."  
  
A snort was what he got for his apology, then the young man turned and moved through the door with a motion that he was to follow this time. Sparing once last glance behind him, Duo did exactly that.

-----  
  
The king, unlike everything else up until now (other then that brief glimpse of paradise in the hallway), was **not** what he expected. As he approached the throne he found himself having to hide a puzzled and distraught expression. _Uh oh.  
_  
Mostly bald other then a few white and ragged strands in varying places over his scalp, and with yellowish skin that was hanging loosely over old bones, the glorious ruler of Fayllen looked more dead then alive…  
  
As the guard reached the throne and announced in his monotone 'Your guest, Sire.' dull mostly white eyes turned towards him and Duo had to work not to flinch away or get visibly sick. He felt a brief ironic flicker as he realized he'd found something that finally disgusted him the way he disgusted people, but that disappeared when the ancient and cracked lips parted to allow forth a voice like deadly wind- "Ahhh, thank you Heero… You may leave us be."  
  
Heero, the so named guard with the bad habit of scaring the hell of out him, looked as uncertain about that idea as he felt about it. But after a moment of thought, he moved to obey and Duo watched him go with a wary frown. When he turned his attention back to the decrepit king, the old creature was leaned forward in his throne and eyeing him with what Duo presumed was curiosity. He shivered under the gaze, but fixed a big smile on his face.  
  
"Your most gracious Majesty, please forgive my intrusion in your beautiful kingdom, but I have come to offer my unique services to you if you would have them." Amazing how much effort he had to put into those words to make them come out without shaking and sounding mousy.   
  
And the skeleton on the beautiful chair simply stared at him unblinking for several seconds until he felt he was going to start squirming in place and eventually run screaming from the hall like a lunatic from the first full moon. Then that mouth opened again to reveal black and gray teethed, "Just what are you, boy? And what 'services' are you offering?" Incredibly enough, a rotted looking tongue snaked out between those tooth stumps and ran over his lips with a papery sound.   
  
He felt his stomach lurch into his throat. _Oh god. Oh god! I should have known! It's always the pretty towns that harbor the worst secrets!!_ He had to close his eyes before he could muster the strength to answer, "I can see the future, Sire. And the past on occasion. I am a prophet, and a good one, Milord… And I know some general magic as well."  
  
"A prophet, aye? … We could indeed have some use of you, boy. Of course, I'd need to be knowing what you want for pay, and what other things you'd be having for your services… And you've still not answered my question as to -what- you are."  
  
He had wondered if that was what the king meant… Funny, even as this disgusting thing was giving him the willies, the bag of bones had caught onto his strange aura. Duo smiled dryly. "I'm a half blood, Sire… My mother was human, and my father was demon or so I've been told. He kidnapped her from a village and flew to a near by forest… When they found her she was pregnant with me." He hoped that was answer enough for the old coot. He didn't want to get into the villagers debating whether or not they should kill her, or remove the baby from her and burn it, or wait until it was born then destroy both for being 'tainted by evil'. Childhood was hell when everyone had a torch with your name on it.  
  
Luckily the king seemed to accept his answer with a decayed grin and almost understanding nod, "Oh, ayuh… That explains the vibe you've got, boy. My late wife had something similar to yours, but on the opposite side of the spectrum as it were. Very well, I would like to employ you if you're interested."  
  
Although he had had major second thoughts when he'd seen this king, it was the thought that he -really- needed money and probably wouldn't make it too another town without any, and the hope that perhaps he could learn more about that blonde creature ,that eventually made him smile and nod in acceptance. From there he spent about twenty minutes working out the finer details of his stay here with a creature that should have been long dead in his opinion. He was to have a room (and for one of the rare time not in a tower), eat with the rest of the staff, have a meeting a day with the king, and receive five gold as wages each morning. Other then that meeting, he could go where he wished within the castle and through the town and under the title of the king's staff and generally do as he pleased… But of course, this was all based on if he could wow the king with their first actual meeting tomorrow morning. He wasn't concerned in the least.


	3. In Shades of Death, She was Painted

-In Shades of Death, She was Painted.-  
  
It was Heero that led him to his room. And when the stoic young male opened his door, Duo very nearly started dancing in amazement._ JACKPOT!! I've hit the holy mother load!_ The room was… Incredible, to say the very least. It was huge for one thing, and the glossy wooden floor was partially covered by a thick rug with the designs on it of a large golden tree stretching from one side of the chambers to the other. But that was only the start. An bed large enough for six people stood against the wall opposite of them, and as he guessed earlier, it was surrounded by a veil of beautiful gold tinted crushed velvet. The majority of this fabric was gathered against the two front bedposts with long white ribbons, so that the plush bed behind it was visible. There were stacks on matching pillows stacked there like little bits of forgotten dawn caught clouds. And on either side of this miraculous bed that he was going to be allowed to sleep in, the walls were broken by large windows like the stained glass below. The sun caught in these and made patterns dance across both floor and ceiling alike, and it looked like a dream to Duo. Along one of the shorter walls rested a wide dark wood dresser and next to that a beautifully carved floor mirror that currently reflected his stunned image back at him. The other wall… Was still pretty, but now also a little creepy.   
  
There was no furniture on the East side of the room, just a mural that went from wall to wall and ceiling to floor. It showed a spring time garden scene, or so he thought judging by the fresh grass. There was a large tree in the center of the painting but this was not your pretty apple blossom plant here. It looked like it was dying. The leaves on it's branches were the color of tarnished gold and he fancied he could see one of two just barely hanging onto there branches. And the trunk seemed dry and crumpling. Hell, there were even pieces of it resting in the lap of the girl who was sitting at it's base. Girl? Duo's eyes widened and he walked in to further examine the female in the painting on his wall. She was probably about twenty-five, he guessed, but looked a lot younger. Part of that was due to the clothing she was in, a light blue gown that was fluffed up around her stockinged legs and dress up shoes, and then a white bonnet that framed her delicate features. A few blonde ringlets had been caught outside of this and hung free over her porcelain cheeks and one even appeared to be stuck on her heart shaped lips. He hadn't realized he was leaned over and staring at her face onto Heero stepped up beside him and he bumped his head on the wall when he looked that way.  
  
Duo straightened up while ruefully rubbing his head, eyes glancing to the wall once more and noticing so many little things he felt like he was getting a headache. _She's got a cut on one hand, her left, above the knuckle. There's a smile on her face, but the artist put tears in her eyes. One flower, looks like a white rose, in sticking out of the covered basket by her side… And what looks like a baby's bottle. And the half of a flowerbed that can be seen doesn't have flowers in it, it's got… Are those bones?_ Duo's heart thudded painfully as Heero abruptly spoke and shook him out of his careful study.  
  
"It's detailed, isn't it?"  
  
He pulled his eyes away and closed them, still seeing the girl's, woman's really, face behind his eyelids. "Yes… Very. She looks real, and so does the scene."  
  
The guard nodded and reached out a hand to lightly touch one of the leaves on a low branch. "She was… And the tree still is. This was the king's late wife, Elizabeth."  
  
_Well, that makes sense… Kind of._ _She looks a lot like what I thought I saw outside before this joker grabbed me the first time._ He opened his eyes and gave Heero a 'go on' look. "How did she die? And gods, she looks so young, how'd she end up married to a…" He blinked and seemed to remember he was talking to the king's guard, "A fine older gentleman like His Majesty downstairs?"  
  
He was surprised when his quick answer earned him a laugh from the stiff male. "Fine older gentleman, indeed. I know what our king looks like… And let me tell you, he only started looking this badly in that five years or so. Before it was only mild..." Cold blue eyes shifted downwards, and although Duo wasn't about to stare at 'Elizabeth' again, he knew that what Heero was studying when he responded, " She killed herself… But she would have died anyway. It's a complicated story."  
  
He smiled, "Well, I know you are probably busy now, so I guess I won't pester you asking, but eventually, if you have some free time I'd like to hear it… This picture interest me, as does this castle and the lands here as well. I'd like to learn all I can." _And just possibly somewhere in all this I'll get some information I can use. Either to do what the king wants, or to sate my own curiosity on the matter.  
_  
Although he receive a somewhat cold look from Heero, he at last got a nod. The brunette stepped back and headed to his door. "That would be fine. Although I'm sure you'll hear about it at dinner in the kitchen. People around here can never seem to keep their mouths shut when there is a new ear to listen." And with that he stepped out and closed the door behind him with a final sounding click.  
  
Duo's skin crawled a little as he realized he was alone in a new area with nothing but some dead woman's painting staring at his back. He sighed and wandered over to the window to hopefully feel the sun's warmth and shake his childish fears. The view he got was enough to make him momentarily forget about the child-like woman on the wall. It was the garden again, though not the one he'd stopped in on his way into the castle… Apparently the whole castle was surrounded on all sides by it. This one didn't have the tall still green trees he'd seen out front, it had something even more interesting. A hedge maze.  
  
The tall angular bushes stood, from what he guess where he was, about seven feet above where anyone's head would be if they were the one's walking through it. Duo could follow the path from the single statue guarded entrance he saw through about ten twists and curves before the maze started to tilt down a slight slope and out of his line of sight. It actually looked challenging and was something he was going to have to check out later… Although, he would let someone know before hand, just in case. Something about the idea of running through the green labyrinth below his window made him smile and feel a little like a kid again. He could just imagine some young boys playing games in there. Knights off in search off the wicked dragon, or maybe two regular peasants off to find the long lost gold of Captain Johnny Steel, or even a pair of children who just happened to stumble into the witch's forest… He could hear the laughter and story unfolding as the day grew long and the sun drifted across the sky. He could see-  
  
… He could see the angel from before walking out of somewhere below him, looking around, then approaching the entrance of the maze he'd just been contemplating. Duo stared at the boy slowly walking across the grass below him in shocked stillness, utterly captivated. And then the blonde lifted his head and stared right up at the window and at him as if he had known someone was watching.

-----  
  
It seemed to Duo that they were staring at one another for days, but in truth, when the blonde just as suddenly turned and walked into the hedge maze, he saw that the sun hadn't moved at all in the sky. But he could remember having the time to study that perfect, upturned face. He had noticed the faint traces of pink that stained those near white cheeks, as if the boy was shy and blushing, and he could remember even having the time to count each of the golden buttons holding the prim coat closed over the boy's chest. Thirteen of them, and all properly closed.  
  
And that was something else, the boy had changed. That white robe from before, almost like he'd just gotten out of the bath and that was something Duo would have liked to see, had been replaced by a more fitting outfit. The blonde had been wearing a dark blue tunic, probably satin, over slightly lighter leggings. All the metal, from his shoe buckles to his buttons and even a ring he had seen glimmering on one pale little finger were gold. He had thought real clothing would make someone like this stranger look more human too him, but instead he looked all the more fragile… He didn't seem to fit into the backdrop of the world around him. It was like someone had painted him here and then forgotten to give him his own world. He paused and frowned. _Painted?_  
  
He whipped around fast enough that his elbow went slamming into the frame of the window. After letting out a stream of creative curses, Duo made his way over to the mural on the wall while rubbing his elbow with his opposite hand. Ignoring the chills the thing now gave him, he dropped to kneel before it and stare at the woman caught so vividly in oil paints under the tree. Although he had started to suspect it over by the window, he still felt a shock of surprise as he compared her delicate features to the unnamed boy he had seen twice now and found them nearly identical by his memory. This pretty doll of a woman, the king's wife, had to be related to the boy. He would say sister, but the boy looked so young, and that wouldn't explain why he was here now after she had passed away… And thinking of mother and son bothered him for some reason he could quite put a finger on. Maybe it was that she looked no older then twelve until you started to really focus and he thought anyone touching someone like her would seem criminal…And that if it were true, it probably meant that the angelic youth he was obsessing over was also from that rotting king. And that was hard to believe.  
  
But they were undeniably related in some form or another, which meant if Heero thought he could get all the information he needed about her at dinner, he could very likely find out about this boy too… Or so he was hoping.  
  
After about ten minutes of considering the painting again from a few new angles, Duo stood and decided it was about time for him to utilize his new home. He would bath before dinner (and in a tub, no less! No half dirty forest stream for him today!) and then use that gorgeous bed over yonder to take a nap. Something told him it might be a trying day, and he rarely ignored those feelings. So as the demon went about his new chambers preparing and lost within his own deep thoughts, it was no wonder he never saw the beautiful cerulean eyes in the painting following him.

-----  
  
When he entered the kitchen later that night, it was too the sound of good natured laughter. He could hear silverware already clanging against plates and glasses being set down, and blamed his slight lateness on having to stop twice and ask for directions… By the time he has it memorize he'd probably be leaving anyway. But that comfortable sound made him happy that the king had allowed him to eat with the rest of the staff rather then him. Just the idea of those wrinkly lips closing over sparkling silverware. Yuk. He had to pause as he at last entered the dining area/kitchen, and watch the scene before him with a slowly widening kitchen. It looked like a circus.  
  
There were cooks and maids bustling frantically around, dropping off plates on an outrageously long table, and even a few settled down themselves to gorge before having to continue. And there was just something cute about the way all of the guards seemed clustered together at one end as if they were so damned proud of their positions. A few more heavily armored men sat at a single table of too the side, and he was left thinking about knights and wandering… And then lastly, there was that man who got up on the wooden bench, stepped onto the table, and walked over it instead of around to plop on a seat next to Heero and throw a chummy around his shoulder. Duo nearly choked as Heero calmly turned and upended his glass over the cheery young brunette's head and the rest of the table burst out in cheers as red wine stained his locks and ran down his cheeks.  
  
It was as Heero was surveying his hand work and getting a grin in return that he spotted Duo, and surprised the newest castle 'employee' but lifting an arm and waving him over. Duo was quick to hustle over after that and drop into one of the few chairs open on this end of the table, this one across and to the side of Heero. He looked different out of uniform, the prophet was happy to note, less like a statue and more touchable. And as if proof of that fact was the wine drenched boy who gave Heero a playful shove before grabbing a napkin and tending to himself, and then the black haired youth to the other side of the guard who seemed to be watching all of this with a neutral expression, but with one hand laying on the table and just barely brushing his. It gave some show of closeness that Duo couldn't help but see and feel an old jealous twinge for…  
  
Heero at last turned away from the other brunette, and when he did Duo noted some of the similarities between them, and then addressed him, "Duo. This is Jalyn, my cousin. He works in the castle stables most of the time when he is not making a riot indoors. And this is Wufei, a friend."   
  
Duo gave his respective nods to both parties, noticing that Jalyn was now eyeing him with a curiosity he often saw, (and a 'fresh meat' expression he rarely did) and that the so labeled Wufei was just staring at him with that cool neutral look, though Duo was certain he'd seen one of his sharp black eyebrows twitch a little at Heero calling him a friend. _Mm, I think there's more to them then they care to share… How fitting._ "It's a pleasure to meet you all."  
  
A pretty little maid came flying by and dropped a plate in front of him, and Duo stared down at it's over loaded surface with such wide eyes that Jalyn laughed and commented, "Ain'tcha never seen food before? And you better watch out, she'll be back in a minute and dropping a glass too."  
  
"Of course I've seen food, plenty of it, but not so much on such a little surface… And not all of these types." And indeed Duo barely managed to lean back in his chair before another maid was dive bombing another glass of wine beside his plate and gone again before he could murmur a thanks.  
  
"They often don't have time to comply when someone asks for seconds, so they handle it in over discharge the first time and then just feed whatever couldn't be eaten to the castle dogs." Came the helpful reply from Heero as he continue working into his own mountain of meal.  
  
Finally, that got a reaction from the ebony tressed Wufei. A snort. "It's wasteful and foolish. In any other kingdom people would be executed for such a display, but here it's just common action."  
  
"Aw, you're just bitter 'cause this kingdom's so well off and nicely organized that they can do that, and your own ain't."  
  
Wufei leaned forward and gave Jalyn a sour frown, "My own kingdom and people aren't such frivolous fools to think this type of financial era is going to last forever. -We- would be stocking up and keeping track of our extra supplies as we went about our training. -We- wouldn't grow more then our farmers could keep care of. -We- wouldn't-"  
  
"Wufei… We are aware of the differences between your people and the people here. Jalyn, why do you bait him like this -every-single-dinner?" By the look on Heero's face, Duo could guess that political debates were common place between his impish cousin and the now huffing Wufei.  
  
"Because no one riles so cute as your boyfriend does, Heero." Jalyn sensed his cousin's reaction, leapt off his seat and went dashing madly out of the hall before the red faced Heero could nab him.  
  
After the two lovebirds, Duo barely kept from smirking himself, finished arguing and calming one another across from him, it was Wufei that turned towards him and stated rather out of the blue, "So, you wanted to know about Elizabeth and what happened to her, did you?"  
  
Silence descended on the entire room like a thick blanket…   
  
Everyone was staring at him now, even the cooks standing before the hot stoves craned their necks to look over at him, and most of the people around him were openly gaping, their food laying forgotten before them. Duo felt blood rush into his cheeks, but kept his gaze steadily on Wufei's as he nodded.  
  
"Yes, I want to know… What happened to the Queen of this castle?"


	4. The Tragic Tale of Elizabeth

-The Tragic Tale of Elizabeth-  
  
"The king killed her." Came the blunt response from Wufei. And quickly the room filled with chatter again. He could hear several 'Oh, be more specific then that, you fool' and a few 'Yes, yes he basically did.' from all around not to mention a few very sad voices chiming in 'Poor Elizabeth, she was a dear' just to add spice. Duo shook his head and tried to focus on one of these voices as they all started in, only to have Heero take care of the problem for him.  
  
"SHUT UP EVERYONE!"  
  
Again came that thick silence, though this time the prophet could feel the surge of excitement from the people in the room. _It's like just the mention of her name stirs some new form of life into them. Just what the hell happened here?  
_  
After the silence had remain for several long seconds, Heero settled back down and picked up his glass. He took a slow sip from the red liquid in it, then set it aside and began, "He didn't actually kill her himself, she did that on her own, but he may as well have. He influenced her as much as one person can and not be charged with a crime…"  
  
Wufei nodded slowly, then contributed, "Some things just aren't meant to be caught and caged."  
  
Now Duo was confused as well and intrigued. He leaned over the table with his elbow resting on the hard wood and his hands cradling his chin, looking around and asking softly, "How did it start? May I hear the whole story?"  
  
"It started, I suppose, with a farmer and his wife. That'd be the best place to begin if you ask me…" This came from behind him, and Duo wasn't surprised to find Jalyn had returned and was leaning against the wall with his arm crossed. He gave Duo and dry, quirky smile, then continued. "They lived on the outskirts of town, just at the base of the hill before the Miershade Forest. They weren't wealthy at all, kinda poor really and didn't have no kids… And then one day, they just did. No one knows when Elizabeth came, she was just there one day, the cutest little button of a girl, and the farmer said she was theirs. No one thought to say otherwise."   
  
A few of the people up and down the table were nodding now, most looking as enraptured in the tale they'd undoubtedly heard many times as Duo felt. One of the older server women, a hearty looking female in a dirty white apron, continued it from there. "Oh ayuh, no one questioned Old Dennis when he came to town a few week later with his wife on one side of an overflowing cart of fruits and vegetables, and that beautiful little blonde baby trodding along on the other side. We all fussed over her, but we didn't ask… And you couldn't help the fussing part. Elizabeth was the sweetest little thing, and people just loved her right from the first minute they saw her. She was one of those little beings you saw and just knew they had to be a little bit of the sunshine itself, you know?"  
  
Duo knew… Hadn't one of his first thoughts on the boy he'd seen in the hall been something like sunshine? It just furthered his beliefs that they had to be related in some way. One of the older cook stepped forward then, and another took his place stirring whatever was in the bubbling pot as he nodded and started in.  
  
"Their farm had never been a big deal until after that little beam of light came into their lives. But from then on, they always had an badly over flowing wagon to bring when they came to market. And the food was different too, it was sweeter…" At this comment, most of the kitchen staff was nodding in agreement and had strange reminiscent expressions on their faces. Duo guessed that this was one of those stories where everyone, whether they'd been there when whatever event happened or not, would claim to remember it. Some things were just like that, normally either really bad scenes where the tale kept getting worse as it went from person to person, or things that were so nice that everyone -wished- they had been around to see it… And personally, he thought the queen's tale was going to end up being a little bit of both.  
  
"O'course, it was only a matter of time before that kind of news and information spread." The plump woman in the none to clean apron had started up again. "They did pretty well before the king got involved, all things considered. What? About five, ten years?"  
  
Heero nodded slowly, again he almost seemed to be hiding in his cup, using it as an excuse not to speak. And that made Duo wonder exactly what part this guard might have to play in all this. The brunette sighed and corrected the older woman, "They didn't first have to deal with the king until Elizabeth had been around for fourteen years, and by then they had one of the best farms in town, a new house, and were some of the more respected citizens of Fayllen."  
  
Again came the soft sounds of agreement all around the table, and despite being a little caught up himself, he had to smile. Dinner had just become story time here. Jalyn chuckled from behind him and picked up after his cousin. "From what I've heard, the king just wanted to talk about their crops the first time he sent for them to come see him. He wanted to see if it were possible to buy… whatever it was that was making their plants grow so good, and spread it throughout his valley. He -had- good intentions anyway… Until they walked in and he saw little Elizabeth. By then she wasn't cute anymore, she was beautiful. She looked like-"  
  
"Like an angel?" He hadn't meant to interrupt and didn't know he had until he heard the words tumble from his lips.  
  
He was answered with several nods and sad smiles before the old cook spoke up in a soft thoughtful voice. "Ayuh, like an angel. She had these pretty little curls you just wanted to cup in your hand, and a face that was meant to stay perfect forever…"  
  
"It is the right of the land for a king to choose whom he wants to marry, and no one can question that choice." Heero sounded bitter as he spoke this. Looking over him, Duo wouldn't guess that this boy was more then a year or two older them himself, but Heero spoke as if whatever had had happened was something he'd watched and clearly didn't like… _They do speak like they all remember, and hell, Jalyn can't be older then fourteen himself._   
  
He frowned and shook himself out of that line of thought long enough to state, "And he chose her… And something wasn't right with that?"  
  
"There wasn't something right with that because Elizabeth had been in love with a boy from town for about a year when the king selected her." Heero muttered this out from around the rim of his glass, then sighed. "She fell in love with Jonathon Clark. He was the son of one of the tailors in town. The two of them had started courting with both parents consent, and everyone agreed that they were well matched and couldn't be happier together. But that didn't matter to the king."  
  
"… She actually refused the first time the king asked. Laughed, as I recall, and stated that he may be a king but he wasn't her king." The woman was now twisting her apron between her old withered hands, and Duo was slightly amazed to see she looked ready to cry. "Elizabeth said a lot of funny things like that. Asking why girls had to have escorts, and why we celebrated All Hollow's eve… Things a girl should know, she just didn't understand. She was a free spirit, that girl was."  
  
"But she had an eye for the gems and gold." Came Heero's flat reply. "When the king threatened to take away her 'parent's' farm, and that didn't work. He offered her a trunk full of jewels and brought what would be her crown right to her doorstep himself. She still seemed skeptical even then, but with the odds stacking up, she finally consented and most of the town sighed in relief. He wouldn't have given up, he was too determined... And they got married three months later at the Spring Festival."  
  
"Things were kinda hectic right from the start. She was more a child then a woman, and as much as the king courted her and tried to get her to be a queen, she'd rather have skipped out the back doors to play in the gardens or with the dolls in her room." Duo had to twist in his chair to watch Jalyn as he spoke with a dry smirk twisting his lips upward. "He loved her, but she wasn't in love with him. It was a game to her. Eventually he gave up and went along with that for the most part. He bought her beautiful toys, and filled her rooms with them. He built the hedge maze that's out back, and put a pretty little cottage right in the center. And that looked like a life sized doll house, blue trimming and flowerbeds under each of the windows. It became her favorite place…"  
  
"And ultimately where she betrayed him." Wufei sounded almost pleased to announce that fact.  
  
The old maid scowled and him and whapped the back of his head with one wrinkled hand, earning herself a glare but also his silence as she explained. "She didn't betray him, not really, Elizabeth just couldn't lie to her heart either." She sighed and gave Duo a small absent smile that made him think of a young girl picking daises in a field and playing 'he loves me, he loves me not'. "She and Jonathon couldn't stop seeing each other just because the king had ordered it. They kept meeting in that little cottage whenever they could. They went on like that for about seven years, can you imagine? Seven years of them sneaking out at night, Elizabeth probably climbing down the vine boards from her room and running across the yard in her nightie, and Jonathon sneaking on of his father's horses to ride up the streets and creep into the gardens."  
  
"But eventually they got caught. They wouldn't have, probably could have kept it up until the king died in ignorant bliss, except that Elizabeth started getting rounder right in front of the king's eyes." The more mischievous brunette behind Duo sound like he was almost laughing at the irony of it. "She caught pregnant, and the king was -furious-. He hadn't even gotten a chance, in all those years, to seduce the pretty little doll in his bed to lay with him, and now she was starting to get heavy with child!"  
  
"Even that might not have been so bad, he could have possibly forgiven her and pretended the child was his own… But when he confronted her, Elizabeth, now about half the way through her time and glowing even more beautifully, answered in that innocent way she had that it was Jonathon's child and that she and him were going to raise it in the king's garden just like some normal little family. She was proud of her state, and didn't care if the whole world knew what she'd done."  
  
Duo let out a low whistle and shook his head softly. "That could be considered treason in most of the kingdoms I've been too."  
  
"It wouldn't normally be considered treason here too. But even with her openly admitting to cheating on him, he didn't have the heart to tell his court and sentence her to what would most likely be certain death…" The stoic male was staring blankly into his now empty glass, and when one of the staff stepped forward and took it from him, he didn't seem to notice. "And in the end, that might have been better then what he did do."  
  
"She was already showing, but that didn't mean any of the town folk really knew about it yet." Jalyn shrugged and came around to plop into the seat beside the prophet and explain himself. "She didn't get to go outside of the castle grounds much after she married the king, so really, only the staff knew about her state. So the king brought everyone together and strictly forbid us to tell the townies. He said she'd have the baby here in the castle and we wouldn't tell anyone anything until after it was born and he could decide what to do with it and his wife."  
  
"And then he locked her away…" Duo looked over to Heero at this dull comment, and noted the slightly dazed gleam in his eyes. This was one guard who had better not being working tonight, Heero was well on his way to being dead drunk. "He put her up there in those toy filled chambers and took away the key. She was told she was going to stay there until the baby was born, that he didn't want her running all over town and disgracing his good reign. And to prevent himself and his court from having to remember her betrayal, she wouldn't even have the whole castle, just her bedroom, her sitting room, and private bathing chambers… Four months. She stayed up there, pacing those three rooms and growing more and more sad by the day for four months. Her food was brought up too her by one carefully selected servant, and supplies as well, but otherwise she had no human contact, no fresh air, and only the sun light coming filtered through her painted windows. Despite the fact her food was picked to be healthiest and most helpful to her and the baby growing inside her, something about her died that first day she couldn't get out."  
  
"For a week straight anyone going by could hear her shaking the door knob and begging, saying she had to go outside that she was drowning in those four walls… Two weeks and at any time of day or night you could hear her sobbing from somewhere behind those doors. And after a month in there, there was nothing but silence. That one servant later told everyone that when he'd go in there to deliver he food, she's be sitting at the window side, staring out into the yard and at the tree that was only thirty feet down like it was her only life line… It may as well have been a mile away. She was dying…"  
  
"At first she just started looking thinner, and dark spots appeared under her eyes almost over night. Her skin lost that young luster that had originally attracted the king, and just started to look sickly. Her hair started looking and feeling like dead straw as it hung around her face. She had to be reminded to eat, to sleep, to bath herself or even move at all… And still, even with people telling him what was happening, the king didn't come back to see here until the day after the child was born…"  
  
Here, one of the cooks interrupted Heero. "And the crops were dying too. All over town. All the fields he'd bargained to plant with seeds from Dennis' crops, they were withering and falling apart at a rapid rate."  
  
The guard nodded and closed his eyes, murmuring a soft thanks to the girl that returned his glass to him full again. He took a leisurely sip from it and started speaking once more, "That's right… The crops started dying when she did. In fact, that's probably what finally got the king to go and check on her himself. People were complaining, there was talk of riots. Of course, there was enough food to last, but they didn't like what was happening. So he went to see Elizabeth."  
  
"And that's when everything really went bad. He went storming into her room while her servant was trying once more to get her to eat. She would feed the baby that was now locked in there with her, but she wouldn't do a thing to sustain herself. The king grabbed the plate off her lap and threw it across the room and into a wall, demanding she tell him what was going on. Elizabeth turned a face that looked twenty years older up to him and grinned… According to the servant, she said- 'You took away my love, and my freedom, and with that leaves my life, I am simply taking back what was stolen from me out of your lands… Give me back my Jonathon, let us go free with our child, and peace will be bestowed again. You cannot keep me, Your Majesty, and you cannot save your lands otherwise.' The king snapped then… He struck her, and left her with the cold promise she would get her precious love and he wanted nothing more then to be free of her irritating presence."  
  
"When the king came down the stairs, he looked like a mad man. He was huffing and red faced, his hair standing up on end… I was here when that happened. I was with my father, studying under him. I remember ducking behind him as the door slammed open and the ruler of our kingdom came in to start screaming orders. A troop of his finest were to go into town right away. They were to cease the son of one of the blacksmith under the charge of plotting against the king. He was to be brought back to the castle where the king would give him his sentence immediately…"  
  
Violet eyes were huge as Heero droned on, and Duo could almost see the scene himself. He could hear the king's harsh yells and see the royal guards bewildered expressions… But of course they would do as he ordered, there was nothing else they could do.  
  
"They caught him within less then an hour. By then most of the town was awake from the commotion… And as they dragged him through the gates, a good deal of them tagged along like a funeral procession. Jonathon never said a thing as he was flung before the steps of the castle and the king stared down at him. I saw his face from beside my father's leg, and when he glared up at the king, I think he knew exactly what this was about and what was going to happen to him."  
  
"The king made his decision quickly. Jonathon was dragged around to the side of the house, and while Elizabeth watched from behind the window of her prison, the royal guard and the people of her town hung the man she loved from the tree she'd spent four months staring at."  
  
It seemed the room went silent again, but Duo swore he could hear the screams and shout of the mob, the angry and senseless cries that most have accompanied their crime. Of course many would regret it later, he understood that, but when people got scared and didn't understand something, they got panicky… And when that happened nothing could stop the inevitable. It was like waiting against the tide. It was he who broke the silence with a tentative whisper, "What happened then?"  
  
Wufei looked up at Duo and frowned, then answered in a sharp tone, "What do you -think- happened? She jumped."  
  
"Everyone heard the glass shatter and ducked, but the next sound that came was that of her body striking the ground… And then the baby wailing from up in her room." It seemed to him that Heero's voice was shaky now, and that he could feel the tension in the room. "She was still alive when we approached her, but her neck… And she was staring at the tree, at Jonathon, with a smile on her face. I… I know how it sounds, but I swear, and anyone that saw her will too, that for just a little bit she looked like she did before. And she was truly happy. Then she died, and something went out of her and upwards."  
  
"Something?"  
  
He nodded, "It looked like gold… The same color as all the stuff the king gave her in the beginning. It was like liquid gold. It gathered over her body like a veil, and then it went up. It went into the window she had leapt from, and then it was just gone and it was over. The queen was dead, her lover was dead, and the king started to deteriorate that very day. … But the crops came back that very next morning. So, I guess she kept her promise. She got her love back, or at least the two of them were together. And in their own way they were free. And so the crops started to grow again and the people just accepted it as justice. They went on like it didn't happen. But they didn't forget."  
  
_And that's the end…_ Duo's head sank down a little as Heero trailed off. It was the tale of a thousand broken hearts, and he'd heard them before. This one was a little more tragic than some, and it was one he was practically caught in himself, but it-   
  
His head lifted again quickly and he stared around the table with demanding eyes.  
  
"What about the baby?" 


	5. A Child's Tears of Solitude

-A Child's Tears in Solitude-  
  
The guard blinked at him in confusion, and then repeated uncertainly, "The baby? What about the baby?"  
  
Duo could have leaned over the table, grabbed him by the collar, and started shaking him. He settled for clenching his hands under the table and nodding slowly as he spoke carefully, "Yes. The baby. What happened to the baby? It was a boy wasn't it? A son… And he looks just like her, doesn't he? He's got blonde hair just to the base of his ears and he's small just like she was. He likes blues, just like she must have, and he's got eyes that look like the sky does right before a storm hits. What happened to him? "  
  
All of the people in the room were staring at him once again, mouths hanging open in disbelief like broken puppets. _Just a room full of toys, welcome to the dollhouse, Duo. Why don't you become a toy to and play with them?_ He shivered violently at that unexpected thought and came too just to hear the last of Heero's comment 'know that?'. Duo reached a hand up and ran it nervously through his bangs, pushing them out of his eyes as he intelligently asked, "Huh? What did you say?"  
  
Both Heero and Wufei were leaning across the table towards him now, unlike most of the people who were now looking uncomfortable and edging back to whatever 'work' they suddenly remembered they had too do. It seemed that as much as Elizabeth brought them together to reminisce and wool gather, that baby sent them running away in guilt.  
  
The guard had himself practically stretched across the table before he finally repeated himself softly, "I said; how do you know that? You can't possibly know that. You describe him like you've seen him…"  
  
"I have."  
  
"You're lying! You can't have!" Wufei was snapping that quickly, one arm wrapped around Heero and trying to pull him off the table and back into his chair. And it didn't look like he was the only one troubled by Duo's short response. Once again he'd become the center of attention, but this time it was with people whispering all over the room and casting skeptical glances his way.  
  
Heero thumped back into his chair and settled his head on Wufei's shoulder, closing his eyes and smiling as he stated- "No, Wufei's right. It's not possible that you saw him. Nobody sees him any more, we haven't in years."  
  
"Well I did. You aren't trying to tell me he's dead or something are you? Because I've seen him twice now. Once in the gardens when I was in my room and looking out the window, and once when I first got here. When you went and saw the king, I saw him in the hall."  
  
People all over started shaking their heads, and it was that nervous maid woman who eventually spoke up, coming towards him to pet his shoulder and then unconsciously wipe her hand on her apron like she'd touched something dirty. It was something he saw a lot when people felt what he was. "No, dear. Quatre isn't dead. He's… He's just like she was in the end though. He was born in that room and he's never been out of it. The king won't allow it."  
  
Duo was out of his seat in second, staring at her and almost shouting. 'What? What do you mean? You can't keep a child locked up like that! That's inhumane!"  
  
All around him people drew back, and many left the dining hall in a rush with no intents on coming back. The maid herself scooted back until she was safely behind one of the cooks and staring back at him with large eyes. It was Wufei that answered him, looking sad as he ran a hand over the now dozing Heero's hair and watched him. "She means he is locked up, just like she said. It's that simply really. And yes, it is all of those things, but it doesn't change the way it is. He's been in there for fifteen years already, Duo. If there was something to be done with it, it would have been done already, don't you know that?"  
  
He felt the insane urge to cry. And for a boy he'd never even spoken too. The idea of all those nights alone, for never playing with another child, for never having a mother rock him to sleep. Learning to walk probably by himself, waking up from nightmare's and having no gentle hand to brush back his hair and tell him there was nothing under the bed waiting for his eyes to close. Getting older and watching the world outside the glass change but never the world someone else had put around you… It broke his heart. So somewhere in this castle there was a young male who'd never been given a chance to live. But he'd found his own way… Duo had seen him twice now, and that meant that the boy, the prince, had to be finding a way out somehow. In that, he found the only promising hope.  
  
"But I have seen him… I swear I have. He's found his own way out somehow, and it's a good thing too. This is wrong."  
  
Wufei gave him a dry smile as he stood up and helped Heero upright to loop an arm around his waist. "If you have, I'm thankful for it. I think anyone in this castle save the king would be. No one thinks that Quatre should live the way he's had too, but that is just the way it is. Some things aren't meant to have happy endings, and that child is like that."  
  
And then Heero and Wufei left. They all left. Duo was soon sitting in a dining hall that even the cooks had temporarily abandoned, staring down at a mostly uneaten plate and not seeing it as his mind went repeatedly over the things he'd heard tonight. He was intelligent enough to recognize he -couldn't- let this go on, and that when he left finally however long down the road, something around this castle would have had to change first. It was half an hour later that the pale prophet with the long braid got up and headed to his room for the night.

-----  
  
Quatre came to him that night.  
  
He must have been asleep for about four hours when the sound of his door creaking open woke him. In the pale light of the moon coming through his window and with one eye barely squinted open, he could just make out a form creeping through the door and then closing it silently behind itself. The first thought that came to Duo's mind was that one of the people he'd been around must have been really unhappily affected by his aura and had come up here in attempts to threaten him into leaving, hell, it had happened before. But those thoughts vanished the moment the sneaking figure stepped into the little patch of silver light on his floor. _It's him…_  
  
The little prince stood in his chambers as if he belonged there. His blonde head was tipped gently to the side and his eyes were closed as he faced the window. Even in what little light was there, Duo could see his lips were parted and tilted slightly up into a smile. He looked captivating, innocent as any creature out there in a dove white shirt that was just a little too big and hung off his slender frame in the most appealing way. His violet eyes kept returning to that one bared shoulder. _How could something so innocent as seeing his shirt hanging off his shoulder hit me so hard?_ Almost as if his thought had been heard, those flashing cerulean eyes opened and fixed on him, and Duo's breath caught.  
  
Quatre's smile widened as he slowly padded across the carpet and towards the large bed with the single male laying in it's center and staring back at him. The blonde didn't stop when his legs hit the end of bed either, he crawled up onto it and sat back on his heels, his light weight resting less then a foot from where Duo's feet were. He could feel the surface of the bed shift towards that heavenly vision. For better or worse, Duo lifted himself up on his elbows, and then up completely to pull back and lean against the beautifully carved head board.  
  
They sat there in silence for several minutes, Duo taking the chance to look over the boy he'd seen before, and trying to memorize every detail from the soft way his legs looked against the gold of the top blanket to the way one strand of that honey touched hair fell in front of his eyes, and the young prince staring back at him as if mildly amused.  
  
Finally Duo could no longer help himself. He leaned forward and started, "How do you get out? How long have you been escaping and living the way you should?"  
  
The boy didn't answer him, at least not verbally. Quatre climbed over the covers on his knees and came to lay down right beside him. He was resting mostly on one side now and gazing up at Duo with that mysterious half smile. As if this weren't enough to halt the half demonic boy, he then reached a hand up and extended a finger, slowly laying this over Duo's lip as he shook his head once from side to side.  
  
When he opened his mouth to ask what the prince meant, he found that hand now completely covering his mouth and again the blonde was shaking his head. _Okay… No talking. Why doesn't he want us to speak? There has to be a way I can communicate with him!_   
  
Deciding to try another way, he shifted to lift his hand in hopes of gesturing what he wanted to know. But the boy lifted the hand he had over Duo's mouth and moved it to hold his arm under the blanket. And then he leaned forward quickly, and Duo found himself caught in the sweetest kiss he'd ever tasted and felt.  
  
He heard his own helpless moan from miles away. There was no option of not responding here, a priest couldn't have kept themselves from kissing this golden child back, and he had never claimed to be one. Slowly he pressed back against the warm lips on his own, and he felt his sanity slip a little as they parted so trustingly against his. His hands felt like they belonged to someone else as they eased out from the blankets. One reached around the boy to rest on his neck and hold him still, and the other fell to gently kneading that teasing bare shoulder. Slowly he licked the boy's bottom lip, and the sharp gasp of breath he received for his actions sent his blood boiling hotly through his veins. He pressed against his mouth firmly, exploring the warm opening unchecked and uncontrolled… And the boy was kissing him back, the small muffled mewling noises coming from him enough to drive Duo insane.  
  
He was touching this creature, and it was all completely willingly. This boy had snuck into his room, crawled onto his bed, and kissed him first… And he hadn't pushed him away. But perhaps he'd spoken (or thought) too soon, the blonde was shifting beside him right now.   
  
His doubts were brushed aside as he suddenly felt Quatre's body press up against his completely. The boy had been trying to scoot closer. And when Duo felt one small hand searching for the tops of the blankets, he didn't even think before lifting them up and allowing the prince to join him underneath in their warm cocoon.   
  
He'd always slept in nothing when he thought he could get away with it, and here with his own private room, a door that could be locked, and in a castle nonetheless , that was how he'd gone to bed. As he felt the prince's bare legs slide in against his, then wrap unselfconsciously around them, he broke their kiss momentarily with a shuddering moan. Here was a being he could nearly guarantee had never been touched intimately before, and he was lying here beside him, harder then he'd ever been in his life and contemplating touching the pure stranger.   
  
Even as Duo's own mind tried to make sense of reason and he began trying to work through his guilty issues, the blonde who'd crept into his bed, and into his heart he was beginning to believe, never stopped. Quatre nuzzled the side of his throat with warm and uncertain kisses. And there was the weight of a small hand sliding over his chest and laying splayed over the ribs, fingers arching up and ever so lightly clawing. His skin arched into this touch like it was obeying it's true master, and he didn't think he'd be able to make himself behave if he tried… But worse was the realization that he didn't want too. He wanted this boy. He wanted what no one else had had and he wanted to hear what were bound to be the loud and harmonized cries the boy would let out when he claimed him as his own. He wanted to feel Quatre around him, and see those ever shifting eyes staring up at him, seeing him, as he fell victim to his first pleasures and surrendered.  
  
And the prince was now kissing down the center of his chest.  
  
Duo's breath became a needy growl in his throat as those pretty little lips found one of his nipples and gave it a soft suck before moving on. He didn't know how the boy knew what to do, but he was sure he hadn't done any of this before. There was something too… careful and slow, with each kiss that rained down on his skin. He slipped his hands down the silk covered back now partially above him, letting his nails catch the fabric and pull it up as he drew his hands slow back up. And the boy removed himself from his soft touches and exploration just long enough for Duo to pull the shirt completely off him.  
  
His eyes widened as they traveled over the perfect form he'd revealed. There wasn't a mark on the boy, not on scar from falling down and banging himself as a child, not a bruise, and not a single thing he could find wrong. His hands moved up and over both of the pale shoulder, locking gently around them and pulling Quatre down to again taste his lips.   
  
The blonde let out a soft, breathy laugh as Duo's tipped his head up and placed several feather soft kisses all over his features, and the prophet found the sound bringing a smile automatically to his lips. It was a sound he knew he'd want to hear again.  
  
Finally when the boy had had enough of his teasing, he broke away and slipped down to continue his downward assault. Duo was determined not to stop him, if the prince wanted to explore this, he needed to be given the chance to do so… No matter how much the heated little kisses that were now dusting over his lower stomach made him want to just grab the boy, flipped him over onto the bed, and ravish him. He closed his eyes and listened to the rapid pants coming from his mouth and the soft sounds that accompanied Quatre's kisses, and entwined his hands into the sheets to either side of him.  
  
As that first light and curious touch descended onto his arousal, he gasped and arched up to stare down himself and at the boy perched beneath the blankets and over his waist. Quatre was looking right back at him with beautiful wide eyes. He was sitting on his heels again, lightly teething his lower lip in an unconsciously seductive way as he stared at the prophet and seemed to consider. One little hand was laying in his lap, shyly covering himself… And the other was hovering just an inch over Duo's length. As he watched, the boy let his hand lower again and a single finger ever so lightly traced up the side of his erection, his eyes never leaving Duo's flushed face. His whole body shivered at that touch and he groaned from want, but he found himself unable to look away. He couldn't recall ever wanting someone as much as he did right now, he was vibrating from desire.   
  
Already he could see a pearly white drop forming on the tip only a short distance away from those angelic fingers. When he shifted his eyes to Quatre and started to open his mouth to plead, the boy wrapped his hand firmly around Duo and stroked him. He never had a chance. The moment that warmth enveloped him and started to rise and fall, he was lost, and looking up to see the most sweet smile on the child's face only pushed him even further over the edge. He came with a cry and that was Quatre's name. It fell from his lips like a prayer.

-----  
  
And it was that cry that awoke him.  
  
Duo sat up in his bed with a jerk, looking around the dark chambers with eyes wide enough to reflect the moonlight around himself like mirrors. It was still night, and he was alone… He had been since he went to bed just an hour or two before. He glanced over to the door and found his eyes stinging with tears to find it closed and locked, as he left it before stripping and retiring into his bed. The loss of that dream was actually painful.  
  
He rolled to the side to twist the knob on the bedside lamp, and grimaced at that slick, sticky wetness coating his stomach. Of course that had been real enough… He hadn't had a wet dream for, hell, five years. And now he was probably dealing with the most dramatic one he'd ever gone through. What was the matter with him? He'd felt so damned guilty when he'd thought that he was kissing the prince and was seriously considering to make it something more, (because touching someone like that was just criminal, don'tcha know?) and now that he was sitting awake in an empty room, he just wanted the blonde back in here again to continue. It was sick, it was twisted, and god how it felt wonderful.  
  
As he settled back against the head board and stared regretfully at the door, the details came washing over him like a sea wave. He'd get up and run himself a bath in a few minutes, and get rid of the evidence of his late night obsessing, but for now he allowed himself to relax and think through it. Though he knew it was a dream, he would have sworn to the gods themselves it was real while he slept. It was perfect, from the feel of cloth under his fingers to the weight that had shifted the bed when the angel first crawled on. How often did people have a dream that involved things like that, especially one that ended the way his did?  
  
And as he let his tongue dart out and run over his lips, he could still taste that sweetness there. It turned out to be a very long and restless night for Duo.


	6. What Proof is Given

-What Proof is Given-  
  
He was awoken early the next morning by someone pounding on his door. Rolling himself out of bed turned out to be one of the hardest tasks he thought he'd faced in a while. He vaguely remembered stumbling out of the bath after falling asleep in there for the third time and dropping onto the bed in a sopping wet pile of skin and hair, but now with the cheery morning light streaming in even that could be questioned in his mind. The prophet looked like something the cat had dragged in, then out to mangle some more, then back in as he opened the door and looked out at Wufei with bleary eyes. "Wha iz it?"  
  
Dark doe-like eyes studied his rumbled hair and then the shadowy circles under his eyes for a second, then Wufei pushed him right back into the room and followed to close the door behind himself. "You look like hell. What happened to you? You're supposed to be in the king's chambers within the hour, and you can't go looking like that."  
  
"I had a bad night sleeping, okay? Back off and let me wake up on my own." Pride still ran rampant despite the fact that Duo was aware he probably looked as good as he felt. He stood up more straightly and ran a hand through his knotted locks, scowling at Wufei as he headed over to the bed and grabbed a blanket to cover himself. "I'll make the king's schedule." And he said this around a sleepy yawn.  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes then looked around the chambers. Clothes were tossed at Duo quickly and soon the ebony haired guard was standing in front of him with a brush, thwapping his palm and shaking his head. "No, you won't. If I leave now you'll just roll right back over and be fired before lunch. Get those on then turn around, we've only got about a half an hour, you'll want to be early."  
  
As it was, through much complaining, whining, and Wufei's persistence, the pair had just entered the waiting room when the large doors opened and Heero stuck his head out. "The king is ready to see you now, Duo. Please come in."

-----  
  
He walked into the chambers trying to keep his face neutral from when he saw the king, and for the most part he managed… Although now his disgust for that man went past just his sagging skin and rotting orifice he called a mouth. Duo was staring at the crumpled form draped in the elaborate chair and doing his best not to run up and start beating the living hell out of him. This was the man that had caused some poor innocent girl to kill herself and the man that had wrongfully accused someone for his own selfish whims… And this was the man that currently had the boy that was haunting him locked up somewhere. He even accomplished giving the old man a bow and a smile, and had never been more proud of his acting abilities in his life.  
  
"Thank you for calling me down to see me, Milord. How may I be of some service to you today?"  
  
A wheeze was his first response, and Duo flinched back as the king erupted into a long stream of coughs less then a two feet from his face. He could probably count the little globs of spit and mucus that went flying if he really wanted too, this guy was just that charming. The prophet took a discreet step backwards and waited as the king gathered himself enough to speak.  
  
"Ahhh, boy." Keen fellow, wasn't he? The king leaned over one arm of his throne like a serpent and grinned widely at him as he continued, "I wished to have a demonstration of the services you offer today. If you are what you say you are, surely you can provide me with some useful tidbit of information on the spot, right?"  
  
Suppressing his gag reflex as that foul breath washed over his face like a wave of sewage, Duo nodded, "Aye, Sire. It isn't something I must wait for… Mostly it is knowing how to call it and then focusing the energy towards something productive."  
  
"I see… Then will you be needing anything to begin? Will it be… Messy or anything like that, boy?" The way the king licked his lips at that made Duo pretty convinced the old guy would be thrilled if he said yes, that there'd be blood and gut splashing all over the walls and him screaming in agony as the vision came through.   
  
He frowned slightly and shook his head, "No, Majesty. Nothing. There will be no startling lights or flashes, and at the very worst I may just lose my balance and have to sit down. It is slightly draining to call on, but it is not painful or a threat to my existence."   
  
How tragic that the king seemed disappointed by that. He settled back in his chair with a breathless grunt and nodded his head to the guards behind the prophet that the doors could be shut now. Duo listened to the click of the latches and then louder sounds as locks were turned. Just precautions, he knew this, but knowing he was locked in with the king and just two other people wasn't helping his frame of mind. _I wonder if they'd back me up if I just leapt across this pretty carpet, grabbed that yonder candlestick and drove it through this prick's stomach. I have a feeling it would go much like a knife through butter in his state…_ But such thoughts were best squashed before they started to really make sense and sound good.  
  
"What in particular would you like me to try and see for you, Sire? Obviously something that will happen and serve as good enough proof. Is there any area you want me to watch for, or just something random?"  
  
"Something in random, boy, but something I'll needn't wait 'round long to see. I don't want to be all day trying to look for some little thing to happen only to miss it and then have to send you off packing, now would I?"  
  
Again, by the grin on the corpse king's face, Duo wasn't sure he'd really mind doing exactly that at all. He sighed softly and nodded, "As you wish. I'll try my best."  
  
The prophet lowered his head and closed his eyes, drawing his hands up in front of himself and holding them palm to palm with about an inch in between them. As a low murmur started from him, jumbled sounds that were more like humming then actual words, Heero leaned against the wall and tipped his head slightly to watch. And across the room, he could see Wufei doing the same thing and mirroring him. Both of them thought they saw a small spark of something deep purple and like living mist within that little gap, but both of them would convince themselves it was just their imaginations and expectations. The king with his failing eyes never saw anything.  
  
But they all -felt- something. The air in the chambers drastically cooled several degrees, and a slight wind swept unexplainably through the closed rooms and sent several of the wayward wisps of Duo's hair swaying about his pale face. ... And that aura intensified. For Heero and Wufei since they'd met the braided youth, it had been just a minor annoyance and chill, like one would feel walking through a dark swamp at night in which ill tempered creatures lived, but for the king it had been like smelling something nearby decompose, knowing death was close, something that offended the senses and made one squirm uncomfortably no matter **who** they were..  
  
The two guards stepped back, pressing against the walls and gawking at Duo without ever being aware they'd reacted at all. And their esteemed ruler made a choked gagging sound and curled up in his chair like a little child who'd just come face to face with the boogey creature in it's closet.  
  
Duo's sensations of the events were quite different. He saw or heard nothing of the people around him, or even of the building. He was no longer standing, no longer tired from the night before, and no longer aware of the breath coming in and out of his body in that self animated way. It was a completely unanchored feeling. He floated up into a sea of haze, colors shifting around his other realm eyes like fog… And when the fog started to spin and whirl, then finally dissipating like a drop of blood would eventually fade and come to be less in a glass of water, his vision came.  
  
_ -The world was on fire where he stood. Around him the flames crashed and tumbled over and through one another in an effort to devour the wooden structure that had stood as home to the creatures now darting about. Horses stamped their feet as the heat sindged their glossy white coats and sent their manes curling and burning. The dark leather saddles on the walls crackled and turned hard as he watched, eventually falling to the hay covered floor and further feeding the blaze. Above in the rafter where the fire hadn't reached yet, birds that had nested now flew in frenzied circles, squawking and striking each other as they searched for an escape. In the corner lay the passed out stable man, a mostly empty bottle of some amber liquid inches from his stretched out hand, and the lantern he'd undoubtedly been carrying a few feet beyond his head, only the metal still intact as served as the source. A crash came from one of those horses as it kicked through it's stall door in fear and went darting toward the mostly closed barn doors. As it crammed it's nose into the crack of daylight and nudged the door open, the sign that hung crookedly from an old wooden beam swayed and for a second Duo could read the word 'Matherly's'. Then just as swiftly as the scene had emerged to him, he was thrust back into the foggy haze.-_  
  
_ -When the rainbow spectrum of mist cleared again, he was in the woods. The mostly dead and leafless trees around him were the very ones he'd walked through on his way towards this kingdom. The silence around him felt thick and stifling, that kind of absence of noise a forest suffered only when something that wasn't it's normal dwellers passed by. As Duo watched in his ethereal state, a group of ragged looking men came walking around one of the clusters of foliage. They held daggers at their belts, and their filthy faces had that hard edge that only came from a life time of struggle. Thieves, and fresh from an encounter judging by the sweat sparkling in their beards and on their brows… Not to mention the sacks hanging over one or two of the large shoulders. He heard the noise at the same time the bandits did, and followed their line of sight as the two little girls came over the top of the hill just barely visible through the lines of trees, the flower basket swinging in one's hand as she laughed. A flash of white over took the day, and what he saw next was the straw basket laying on it's side and rocking slightly, it's handle splashed with red. And then it was gone.-_  
  
For what felt like hours to him, this type of knowledge flooded in. They weren't always bad, in fact, he preferred that they weren't when he could help it. But when giving a king like this reason to believe in him… It was those gruesome kind of events he tried to find and remember.  
  
The colorful abyss of things yet to happen or currently happening finally started to lessen for him, and he could feel his weight reconnecting with his body, trendles of self and soul joining back with the steady fibers of his earthly form. But right before he settled in completely, another vision grabbed his mind and jerked it back into the fields of foresight. It wasn't something he was unacquainted with, it just didn't happen too often. And when this one struck, the scene was so familiar that at first he thought he had just ignored that insistent pull and opened his own eyes.  
  
_ -The throne room stood before him, and other then the smallest of details, it was exactly the same as the one he was standing in right now as he witnessed this. Only there was someone with him now, beside him and pressing lightly against his arms. He couldn't look down, he was staring at the horrified face of the king… A once regal being that was now cringing back in his throne and letting out piercing shrieks as he stared past Duo's shoulder. That sound, like a creature bound for hell finally making it's flight, made Duo's skin crawl. From the side he saw a motion and glanced towards that just in time to see a small hand reach out and topple one of the beautiful silver candleholders. The king went up in flames like a torch, and although his screams now reached a ear splitting level, it looked like his attention was still focused on the invisible presence to Duo's left and not on his own crackling skin.-_  
  
In the reality of the throne room, Wufei was looking mildly concerned as the braided youth started to shake in place and murmur. Later that night he'd sit up suddenly in bed with the words 'He was saying that the tears on his cheeks were smoking, and oh gods why wouldn't he stop screaming' tumbling from his lips before he knew they were there. His lover would try to calm him and get him to lay back down, but it would be hours before Wufei could shake his feeling of unease. Heero sat up with him during this time and watched him pace, his own nerves a little rattled by that strange comment.  
  
_-And in Duo's vision, the king continued to burn. He turned away after a minute, feeling that weight pressing against his chest now, and feeling arms that were numb and disconnected to himself in this state wrap around that burden as he started towards the large open doors. The screams, so many things to say now that he could see his end, flowed through the air and into Duo's dreams for years to come, but he was leaving now. He walked out of the room with the flames following behind him…-_  
  
When he came back to himself it was with a thud that sent him crashing to his knees. Duo was panting in air desperately as he braced himself on unsteady hands and so certain he could still taste the acidic tang of smoke in the back of his lungs. Heero started forward to help the collapsed prophet up only to have the king shoot him a look that made him straighten right back into place.  
  
A few minutes later Duo got himself under control by himself while the king watched with great interest. He pulled himself up to his feet with obvious effort, his face displaying a sickly pallor and eyes feverishly bright as he let out another retching cough. When this fit at last passed, the king drew forward and asked anxiously- "You saw something, I believe that. Tell me what you saw, boy. I want details."  
  
Cool violet eyes glared at the king hard enough that the withered old male self-consciously sat back in his seat. _He deserves it. Whatever happens that brings that on, he has earned it for years… And I won't be the person to stop his fate from coming to him._ Duo's furious expression chilled to something like an apologetic smile, and he bowed his head to the creature on the throne. "Of course, Highness. As you wish."  
  
And then he started to regale the king with what he had seen. He spared him none of the gory scenes and only drew more attention for each mention of violence, further items that fueled his dislike of the foul old man. He explained it would all happen today sometime, and could be intervened with if his Highness so chose. From the fire at Matherly's, (which turned out to be a stable on the eat of town, right next to a house which used to be owned by an lonely farmer and his childless wife before they'd found the money to move) to the little girls who would encounter a band of bold thieves and loose their lives for a simple mistake in direction… Duo would never have recognized one of those bearded men (how could he?) but many in the town would have been horrified to see the now ragged and broken face of a man named Jason, a formally good natured blacksmith who'd lost his only son some fifteen years ago.  
  
He told of the little things, minor items like a woman losing her necklace in a gutter when her horse bucked in the square and a boy who'd been missing really only being hiding up in his own home's attic, and the king listened attentively. But he never whispered a word of his last vision. Heero and Wufei also listened, doubtful and surprised at first, but then more accepting and interested. It was two hours before the king finally dismissed him for the day and set about doing what he wanted with the information. By that time Duo's head was throbbing painfully and he felt like he could sleep for a week straight, it'd been a long time since he'd had such a draining experience with his talent.  
  
Duo made it up to his bedroom without remembering much of the trip there, and fell on the bed once he was safely in and had closed the door behind him. Sleep hit him hard and fast, and all manner of dreams came and went as they saw fit. But Quatre's pleading cerulean eyes were in all of them…   
  
It was seven hours before a knock at last waked him from his coma, the sound followed by a gruff voice that could only be Heero's. Duo got up and let him in, then groggily went about preparing himself for dinner while the serious brunette told him about the day he'd had running around town playing messenger for the king. Hearing how Heero had tried to explain to people things he shouldn't know was enough to make him burst into laughter, and they went down to dinner together on that light note.


	7. In Which the Prophet Hunts and is Hunted...

-In Which the Prophet Hunts and is Hunted in Return-  
  
Days went by in the same way they often did after Duo showed whomever he was 'staying' with his true calling. A comfortable pattern erupted in the chaos of his life, and it was well welcomed in spite of the little drawbacks. He rose ate a hearty (and often noisy lunch) then spoke to the king about the events of day that may or may not happen as he so choose, he went back to his room and rested, then rose to join the others for lunch. None of his meetings had proved so tiring as that first, and that was the only day he ever missed his meals. After lunch became his favorite time of the day. He'd leave the company of his unexpected new friends and wander around where he wished. He remembered upon first arriving how he had so badly wanted to take whatever pay he got and go to some of the shops, but now that was the furthest and least important thing in his mind. He hadn't even left the castle once since he'd come in.  
  
Besides, it wasn't like there wasn't more then enough things within this beautiful white walls to amuse him. So far he'd visited the library (beautiful room, really. Huge sky light and it had a nice homey feeling to it, but books just weren't his thing), the armory (oooh, big swords! Crossbows! … His visit lasted a whole five minutes before a very disgruntled guard with an arrow sticking out of one leg showed him the way out), the treasury (how was he supposed to know that a diamond looking glass couldn't be touched?) and just yesterday, the guards chambers. That was his favorite so far. Sure he'd had to outrun a red faced and ruffled looking Wufei and a furious Heero once they'd redressed, but it was worth it for the laughs they had gotten later that night over the situation. And besides, it was hardly his fault for walking in on something like that. They really should have locked the door.  
  
And today, he had plans to investigate a wobbly old stair case he'd found at the end of one hall. It had a rope tied in front of it and there was dust on some of the upper stair planks which suggested it wasn't what he was unconsciously searching for (the door and quarters he was looking for would have been clean and had frequent use, they just wouldn't be accessible to the general public), but it looked promising in other ways.  
  
Duo crept down the halls in a way that may have looked comical to any witnesses, hands held up in front of him, stepping highly in an attempt to be quiet, and his braid twitching behind him like a cat's tail. He made it to the staircase without being disturbed, then ducked under the rope and carefully scurried up. Despite it's appearance, the thing barely swayed at all under his weight.  
  
As his head peeked up through the square hole in the floor, his eyes widened incredibly at what he found. It was far from a king's treasure (ha, he'd seen that two days ago, and it was overrated), but just from some of the stuff he saw already it looked like he could spend hours up here rummaging. Mostly it was old furniture. A velvet couch with a tear in one arm, still grand looking but certainly not suitable for the leader of a kingdom. An old marble chess board that had a chip on one corner and so had been thrust into the horrible life of unloved attic dwellers. Even one of those infamous canopy beds was up here, leaning almost sleepy to one side off in the father reaches of the large space. It was a packrat's paradise.  
  
He stood and dusted himself absently off as his eyes roved over several of the various objects, then grinned and started off through the stacks of things to enjoy himself. This was the type of place he could really come to appreciate.  
  
It was several hours later when he finally emerged from the castle attic to bound down to dinner, and when he came waltzing in he actually had to take a second to figure out why he was being stared at. Duo was covered from head to toe with dust. Little puffs clung to his braid like a cotton swab, other then his wide white eyes, his face was gray, and there was definitely going to be a laundry girl somewhere in the castle tonight cursing the day that a certain prophet was born. Wufei hopped off the stool and came stalking over to him, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him out into the hall. "Where in the world have you been? You like you just came back from rolling around in the garden like some common mongrel! There is no way the cook will feed you looking like that, Duo!"  
  
He blinked and peered down at himself, then started cursing. He tried to dust himself off quickly with the idea he could get enough to just sneak in without the cooks noticing, but only succeeded in raising little clouds of dust into the air and causing Wufei to have a sneezing fit.  
  
By this time Heero also came wondering out into the hall, drawn by the curious sounds of Wufei starting to let out a colorful stream of curses in a language Duo didn't understand, then being interrupted by another sharp sneeze. He stopped in to doorway and blinked at the pair, Duo trying to help Wufei and Wufei looking ready to start beating Duo with his own braid, then stepped forward and between the two. He nudged his raven haired lover towards the kitchen door, then turned to Duo and pointed his finger down the hall. "Go to your room and get in the tub. Now. Someone will bring you your dinner up later."  
  
Then he turned and headed back into the dining chambers after his lover, leaving one dusty Duo staring after him and whimpering about his growling stomach. He looked through the doorway at the other people eating rather sadly like a puppy left out in the rain, then turned and started trudging to his room, muttering all the way.

-----  
  
He was soaking in the tub and scrubbing at himself raw about half an hour later when the knock came.  
  
_Oh, of course._ Duo shook his head and hauled himself out of the tub, nearly slipping from the water that ran down his legs and pooled dangerously on the floor. As he grabbed a towel and started tucking it low around his waist, he snickered at the image of inviting whoever was there in to serve him as he lay sprawled naked and whimpering from several broken bones and nasty bruises. That probably would go over as well as his dusty début earlier.  
  
He made his way over to the door and threw it open, expecting to surprise some poor chamber maid into conniptions with his current state and instead finding himself gawking. First off, the person carrying the tray was obviously not a chamber maid; he was dressed like a noble. And second of all, he was looking up and down Duo's body with a blank, yet somehow amused look on his worn features. The guy couldn't be much more then a few years older then the prophet, but there was something in his eyes, (well, -eye- really, one of them was covered by a stock of brown hair) that looked genuinely tired.  
  
The guy lifted the tray and interrupted Duo's observation of him with the simply and straight forward question- "Where?"  
  
He blinked and looked around his chambers with a frown, then pointed at one of the side tables. "There please."  
  
As the man made his way over and went about putting it down and taking the lid off it, Duo stared and contemplated. He had to be young, no older then Wufei or Heero in any case, but he walked so stiffly, and even that one word Duo'd heard so far was spoken so dully that it was like listening to something in nature rather then a human's voice. When the male turned and looked back at him, he realized he wasn't the only one studying here.  
  
Green eyes moved over him thoughtfully, then came up to meet his own violet orbs. The strange man gave him a slight nod, as if saying he approved of something, then started towards the door by which Duo stood.  
  
He almost got away too, if only because Duo was currently staring and wondering if he had just been checked out by this new tall, dark and creepy stranger. But when the lithe male started by him he stuck an arm out across the door frame to efficiently block his way, shook his head and quickly started in- "Uh uh. No way buddy… Why haven't I seen you down there in the kitchen during meal times, and why did you just look at me like that?"  
  
A firm chest thudded into Duo's arm, then that cool emerald green gaze came to meet his again. When the other male opened his mouth to answer presumably, what came out was so totally unexpected the Duo took a step back and dropped his arm. "You've been dreaming troubled in the last few night, haven't you? About him?"  
  
Watching that blank face after such a cryptic comment was making his nerves hum with unease. "How the hell would you know that? How could you? Have you been spying on me or what?!"  
  
The man just stared at him calmly, either waiting for an answer or just not planning on humoring Duo's own hyped up and shrill questions. That silence only made the smaller male even more anxious. He crossed his arms and started to nervously rub his elbows as he nodded.  
  
"Yeah. I have… So what of it? How do you know how I've been sleeping? And even more importantly, would you please tell me how you know **who** I was dreaming about?"  
  
"Because he's been dreaming of you too."  
  
And once again the braided boy was floored. He reached a hand out and grasped one of the bed's posts, using it to support himself as his legs decided to go on revolt. His world spun for a sweet second before he came crashing back to find this figure leaning against the now closed door and watching him with vague amusement on his face. With some effort he got his lungs working, and shortly after that, his voice box. "Who are you?"  
  
"Trowa… I'm Quatre's personal caregiver."  
  
_ Caregiver? This is that guy, the only one, who gets to see him! I've been asking about him and looking for him for a while now, and he just suddenly shows up in my room carrying my-_ He frowned. "Hey wait a minute. If you are Quatre's whatever, why were you the one that brought my plate?"  
  
"Because I heard about you. And when he started having dreams and describing the person in them, I put two and two together. I wanted to meet you. For my own curiosity and for his best interests."  
  
"His best interests? How does meeting me affect him?" He carefully released his grip on the bed's post and settled for sinking on the end of it with a shaky breath.  
  
"Because you plan on helping him, don't you?"  
  
This was one fellow that Duo didn't think he was ever going to get used too. He could probably adapt to Heero sneaking around and occasionally stopping his heart by grabbing him, and he could deal with Wufei always glaring at him when he thought he'd asked something stupid. But this guy's way of stated exactly what was on his mind and stuff that probably shouldn't be obvious, was really giving him the willies. He was a prophet for crying out loud, but this guy was pretty damned good himself. He debated shrugging the question off or skirting around it, deliberately ignoring it as 'Trowa' had, then shrugged and nodded. "Yes, I do. I don't like what's been done to him, and I want to take him out of here."  
  
"You've been searching for his rooms?"  
  
"Yes. No luck so far, although I found some other useful things… Are you here to tell me where he is? Are you going to help me get him free and take him away?"  
  
For once he caught a distinctive expression on Trowa's face. A frown that looked edged in sadness. "I'll tell you where he is, and when would be best if you decide to make your move, but I won't actually become involved with you taking him."  
  
"No? Why not? If you are willing to do all that they might think you are involved anyway. You might as well be my cohort all the way and just do what you can."  
  
"I'm not worried about being caught."  
  
"Then why the hell not? You're the person who probably knows the best way to handle this!" He was purely exasperated now. By the most ironic of ways he'd discovered a way right into Quatre's rooms and could probably just walk out with him in the middle of the night with this guy's help, and yet he was flatly refusing to give it. "What's stopping you then?"  
  
"… I'd be damning myself by assisting you in taking him away, although I am already going to do that by giving you the information I plan too. Now, either stop questioning me and accept that, or don't and I'll leave now."  
  
He was actually tempted to go with the second option and badger Trowa a little more in hopes of getting the whole truth, but he wisely bit his tongue at the last second. "Fine. What have you got?"  
  
"The best time to attempt any escape would be three nights from now, at quarter after one in the morning. The guards that normally do that hall on that day will be preoccupied in a room at the back of the corridor, and if you are quiet enough they will not hear you. His rooms are the forth door down on the left, in the second floor East halls, they are always locked so you will have to have your own way through that. From there, to avoid being spotted, you'd do best to go past the center stairwell and down the West halls. There is a door there that leads to a smaller servants staircase, and that will open up on the ground floor in the conservatory. There are doors there that lead right outside, and then you are free to do what you want." That last sentence sounded slightly bitter in comparison to the rest of his blandly given information, and that was a fact that didn't elude Duo's attention. He would have wondered at it, perhaps would later on anyway, but for now he was busy memorize the important details he'd been offered.  
  
"All right. The rest I can work out for myself… I hadn't planned on moving so quickly, I wanted to have some extra money in case anything came up after I had him, but I suppose the sooner the better with this, huh? I wish I had been here years ago to do this really, it's already been far to long for someone like him to have to be caged. I haven't ever played hero before, so I hope you don't think this is just an every day thing for me. I didn't plan on anything like this when I showed up, it just happened… And now I can't imagine leaving without him being okay. He's just…" Duo trailed off with a soft smile, staring off at the wall somewhere over Trowa's head. He didn't know what the blonde was, but he knew he'd grown attached to someone without ever having met them.  
  
"You think you are in love with him…"  
  
It wasn't a question. Duo raised an eyebrow and studied Trowa's face, then shrugged… And a second later, nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I think so. I don't exactly know how, I had pretty much sworn off love before I came here, but I think so."  
  
"Then I wish you both good luck. Find him, and take him out of here. Teach him to be alive."   
  
And then Trowa was turning and opening the door once more. Duo didn't rise to stop him this time, just sat on the bed with a little puzzled smile and watched the lanky figure slip into the hall like a shadow or perhaps a wraith. He called out a soft 'thanks' and got the absent wave of a long fingered hand in acknowledgement before the door was closed again, leaving him with his thoughts… And much neglected dinner.  
  
Duo sat there for only a few minutes, making last checks and rechecks of all of what he had carefully stored away in his mind and memory banks, then crawled over the bed much the same way a certain blonde dream boy had done nights ago while he fantasized. He sat there on the full coverlet and picked at a meal that was now for the most part cold and tasteless to him, staring over at the mural on his wall and wondering exactly what skeletons and specters he'd stirred up unintentionally when he'd come to this beautiful, and at least on the surface, perfect kingdom.


	8. The Forever Waiting Game

-The Forever Waiting Game-  
  
It is often amazing how slow time can go when one is waiting for something to happen. For Duo, the next day and the day after it seemed to trudge by with the speed of something equivalent to a slug. And even though he might be the only one actually aware of what was brewing all around the castle, aside from his tall gloomy visitor and information center Trowa, it was shortly noticed that others were also feeling it. Meals in the kitchen where proof enough of that, everyone was quiet and tense and that was so different then the first few days that he remembered that Duo often hurried through his meals and retreated to his chambers to dine now. Even the king had noticed the slight change from their brief meetings. His prophet appeared a little tired in body and absent in his eyes, looking around himself whenever a loud noise happened to interrupt them and other times just staring at the walls of the throne room like he was trying to understand something and just not getting it… This behavior might have affected his job here, except that the braided creature had been spitting out his images and flawless predictions regularly and without fail, though the king never heard anything he liked as much as that first reading and Duo's violent reaction to it. He dismissed it as simple homesickness and didn't think on it again.  
  
Most of Duo's problem came with trying to occupy himself in between the times and places he was supposed to be. He took advantage of his bathing room and of his bed a lot, knowing that he wasn't going to have them at his disposal when next week rolled around… But the napping or sleeping thing was like walking through a long field filled with pit traps. Most of his dreams were plagued with a cerulean eyed angel. That might not have normally bothered him in any way whatsoever, but currently it seemed that every two out of five dreams had a new theme to offer him, something far less desirable then that first he'd had. Last night he'd gotten barely anything to speak of in the rest department because of one particularly jarring one.  
  
_-He was walking through the halls, searching for an exit out of this maze of a castle. The window reflected the solid and impenetrable dark of night back at him, and he could only vaguely see the small form he held tucked against his chest reflected back at him in the glass panes… He had him, really had the being he'd discovered he cared for in the most unusual of circumstances, and they were going to get out of here if he could just find the door. Duo ran over the hard wooden floors quickly with his eyes making sweeps from side to side in lookout for the smallest thing to give him alarm and make him take up a guard stance over his sleeping beauty. But that was a laugh. There wasn't a single sound he could hear, no one sleeping behind closed doors, not even the clock on the wall beside him was ticking, it's face frozen in paint and more part of the wall then true decoration. He approached it slowly and ran a wall over the perfectly flat surface, watching his fingers slide smoothly over the painted pendulum with surprise. As he looked to either side of him, he could recognize that the doors were also not there in that sense, they were merely some twisted artist's work and there was no real exit… Right as he realized this there had come a loud grinding noise from above and then the floor was rocking beneath him. Duo tumbled to his knees, clutching his precious burden tightly to himself and staring in slack jawed horror as the roof was suddenly taken away and replaced with the huge grinning head of his recent worst enemy, the skeleton king.  
_  
_ The gigantic thing laughed at him, a jarring quaking sound that made him want to scream and cover his ears, then spoke something that unexplainably turned Duo's blood cold. 'Dollhouse.' He stood up quickly and started yelling at the tyrant that had turned his world upside down and started this entire mess… And lost his grip on the boy figure in his arms. His angel dropped to unforgiving floors and he looked down just in time to see his body and head strike, and then shatter like glass. White porcelain hands and legs fell apart from one another and skidded away. And as one shard of the pretty doll's head stopped spinning on the wood and a glassy blue eye stared up at him accusingly from it, Duo started screaming…-_  
  
And that was what he had woken up doing… Screaming until he thought that he would rupture his throat and start coughing up blood. When that urge had subsided, he had started the lantern beside the bed and rolled himself up in the warm comfort of covers, but that didn't stop the chill that had been working within his veins. He had dropped and broken the blonde prince, and dream or not the idea scared him badly… After all, dreams were hints at prophecy and glimpses into an otherwise unknown future in their own way.  
  
So, he took his chances with sleep. Mostly he found himself returning to the attic of the castle and busying himself there. There was always more to find and explore within it's dusty reaches, and even if he couldn't lose himself in it like he had that first time, it provided a pretty nice distraction.  
  
And because of that, this is where ten o'clock in the morning on the day before he was supposed to rescue the prince of this kingdom found him. Duo was sitting on the crooked canopy bed up in the attic and flipping carelessly through dusty books. His attention, however, was not focused on the book in his lap but across the room at the window. Although his fingers kept turning the crinkles pages, his mind was miles away pondering exactly what he was going to do once he actually had the boy and was out of here._ It's not like I have any sort of money to speak of. How in the world am I supposed to make him happy with me always traveling from land to land? And will he be all right with that? Staying with me where ever I'm allowed for a few weeks at a time? I haven't even -met- him, I can't really say that I even know if he'll -want- to come with me and be rescued. What if he's honestly happy where he is, surrounded and cushioned by the bliss of not knowing the real world he's missing out on? How can I dare to think I have any sort of right questioning his existence? Have I really been such a damned fool to think I was doing right by-  
_  
As if something sensed his doubts and distress, there came a low slithering sound of cloth to his left. Duo jerked his head in that direction with a hiss of startled breath and watched as the rest of a matted old tarp fell from an battered looking clothing trunk. As it settled in a puddle around the base of the wooden object, he set the book absently aside and got up to go investigate.  
  
It was the type of trunk that -should- have been locked, yet this one wasn't. Oh, it had the metal loops near it's handle and even a lock swinging from them, but it had **probably** been left open when it got put up here. Probably. No sign of it's original keys though.   
  
As Duo settled back on his haunches it was to that swaying lock that his eyes were repeatedly drawn to. That simple motion made him infinitely more curious then what could be in the box… And he had the distinctive and chilling impression that if he'd noticed the trunk sooner he would have found it locked. It was the metal lock being undone that had sent the cloth moving and drew with attention, he was sure of it and the very idea sent wave after wave of shivers down his spine. What wanted me to see this?  
  
A click from inside the trunk, and the lid was now jarred open an inch. His eyes grew impossibly huge and he back peddled away from the object with a shaken gasp. It took Duo nearly three minutes before his heart stopped thudding painfully in his chest, and during that time he just sat there before the ancient box and looked around the dusty attic suspiciously for some other sign of life. In some part of his subconscious, he really did hope to see someone and to find out this was all some joke on his expense… But in truth, he -knew- he was here by himself, or that he was at least the only **living** creature in the near vicinity.  
  
Finally he reached a hand out and settled it expectantly on the old lid. Nothing. Not a single twitch from it, and no strange vibes either. He mentally scolded himself for playing the fool, then crawled back over until his knees were touching it's bottom and hauled the lid upwards.  
  
There was no bone curdling shriek, no flying specter with claws for nails, and certainly no skeleton in this trunk. In fact he found that it'd been closed at all a miracle. The box was -stuffed- full of what was most definitely clothing. Piles of lace and velvet actually tumbled over and out onto the floor when he lifted the lid and threw it back to with a clank, and he laughed at his own terror. More likely then not it had been the pressure of all this stuff that had sent it opening and scaring him. Without the added pressure of that tarp on it or the lock to hold it in place, it was likely the old thing just gave up finally and regurgitated it's load of items.  
  
Duo remained distracted thinking of how possible that was and what an idiot he'd been as he dug through the piles of expensive fabrics. _A girl's ball gowns, small velvet sleeping robes, little satin slippers._ He was almost laughing again at the image of some rich woman of the court cramming this all in here then bouncing on the lid with several unlady-like grunts in an effort to get it closed enough to lock when his fingers wrapped around and lifted something that made his heart again begin it's infrequent pattern.  
  
It was a light blue gown. The light blue gown. With piles of flawless white lace resting under it's skirt that he could guess would make it look fluffy around delicate, little legs.… And he's seen it before. It was what Quatre's mother was wearing in the painting upon his wall. It was her gown that was hanging from his shaking fingers. A dead woman's fancy dress. And no noble woman had flung herself up and down on this to close it, it had been packed up and stuffed away when it's owner was no longer alive to wear the contents. A simple fact of life. _The dead no longer need their fans and slippers, unless there are balls in the afterlife, and what a dead affair those must be._ The thoughts caused a little laugh to tumble from his throat, though the sharp quality of it caused Duo to jump again and look about himself with guilty eyes.  
  
He stood up on legs that felt like they'd give out at any moment and held the small blue dress in front of him. It looked like it was made for a child, but he knew the truth and had seen it with his own eyes. The woman that had worn this was just a little bit of a thing, like her son is now. As he shook the outfit, almost daring it to give him some kind of an answer, the white bonnet that had been rolled up within it came tumbling out and fell to rest on his booted feet. Duo stared down at that for several seconds, waiting for and wanting something, anything, to happen and actually feeling disappointed when the room around him remained silent. _Well, what did you expect? Ghosts can't speak and you know it. The dead do not communicate to the living with language…  
_  
When his eyes eventually shifted away from the white head piece and back into the trunk, he immediately began folding the dress up before again kneeling in front it. The blue dress was set aside and forgotten before Duo's hands reached up to carefully scoop up the small trinket box that had been resting beneath it. A box within a box. The prophet cradled the small container to his chest and sat back cross legged to explore this new item. It was made entirely of wood other then it's hinges (which seemed to be gold), and carved with an intricate scene of angels at play. One of his fingers moved absently and traced over the ribbons that hung between two of the winged beings with a soft smile. It was a comforting item, nothing bad or spooky about this and thank goodness. The box itself was beautiful and a treasure for anyone to see, never mind what was in it, but after examining it fully (including flipping it over and checking the bottom.) Duo did open it and find himself shocked for a record time that day.  
  
What little faded light was flittering through the dust-coated and occasionally cracked windows of the attic sent the contents of the box into dazzling rays of color that reflected off his face like a rainbow. Duo's first thought was strangely enough of pirate treasure, this was the perfect box, and the stuff in there was stuff that could certainly be used for that. But as his eyes adjusted and began drifting over the glimmering objects, he realized quickly that pirate bounty this was not. It was necklaces, bracelets and diamond encrusted ribbons. Rings and brooches that shown with sapphires and red rubies. Even something that looked like a tiara. He was certain the owner of these startling and beautiful little treasures had never had to steal anything in her life… Except for her own freedom, and even with that she was jaded.  
  
Carefully the box was set in front of his legs. He reached out a ran a hand slowly over the nearest piece of jewelry, eyes looking around again as he felt the cold links of gold move from his gentle pressure. This tiny box, probably a treasure in it's own right to some pretty girl, held more wealthy then he'd actually ever touched before in his life. And it was just sitting here in the attic like some worthless and forgettable knickknack. _Gods, were the royal so ignorant? They could feel any family in this town for the rest of there lives with just -half- of this! Here it was, being wasted and not even viewed, and this could be some others persons life, or at the very least, something they could have and just be so proud to own. This stuff must be worth…_ And then Duo's mind trailed off blankly. He blinked out into the murky open spaces of the attic as his own thoughts came back to him, then back at the lovelies with a swift drop of his head. A new life? Did he dare?

-----  
  
Three hours later found the prophet back in his room soaking in the tub and staring quietly at the slowly drifting and vanishing bubbles that covered the surface of the water… Sitting on the table beside the tub was a small handkerchief covered object. He had found he had dared, even though part of him was sure that as he closed the chest up there, it would snap on his fingers and catch him. Or that when he had been sneaking down the tattered old stairs, he'd suddenly feel little hands pushing his back and sending him tumbling back until the last thing he heard was the loud snap of his own neck… Or even that he'd get back here and suddenly the guards, (led of course by his 'friends' Heero and Wufei), would come dashing around the corners with swords outdrawn and the word 'thief' on their lips. But he had dared. Because that little forgotten box was in fact going to be his new life, if he could find a way to work with it.  
  
He absently scrubbed his arms with the soft sponge and looked at the covered mound. He had counted out thirty-two pieces of jewelry in there. All the way from a pair of tiny emerald stud earrings, to the large sapphire and diamond tiara… And already his mind was going over possible things, though surprisingly none of them were directly based around himself. If he'd found that box just two months ago, he would have been thinking retirement. Now he was debating the best life for a boy he'd never in reality spoken with. He'd sell the first thing, probably one of the rings or a small bracelet, bright and early this morning after he and the prince had traveled for a bit. There was a town to the East only about ten hours walk, and he felt pretty confident they could make it there without too much trouble… Though if it came to it, he was willing to carry the prince if he got tired. Being cooped in a room might not have provided him with much of a chance for exercise and Duo was willing to work around that possibility. They'd get there, and his first order of business would be selling whatever he picked to get them some money. He'd use that money to get himself and the blonde youth some new clothing to hopefully hide them from wandering eyes, and later, to get them a meal and a room at the inn. They could only stay one day he was sure before things would start up. The rest, if there was much, would go to buying them a horse. And then they'd get moving again. To some other town or something, a place he could start trying to find out what the prince wanted with his new freedom outside of the white castle cage.  
  
And now he had enough to at least start most of whatever the prince could ask for. Though a little piece of his brain engagingly asked him what he'd do if the prince simply said 'I want to go home'… If that was the case, he'd take him. Though it might kill him, he'd walk the boy right back here, hand him over, and wait for his punishment. But he didn't honestly believe that occasion would arise.   
  
In the best scenario and what continually played through his mind as he started washing his pile of hair, they'd get to the place Duo finally stopped and asked him that, and Quatre would turn to him with a small smile and answer that he simply wanted him… That would be perfect, unlikely giving the circumstances, but perfect. And from there of course, Duo would find out where the prince might want to live, maybe in a forest near a quaint little village, and then start building their own paradise. He'd never been one for settling down, but that option had never really been available to him either. So he'd build or buy them a small house, and see how it went from there. He'd stick around the prince until it looked like the beautiful blonde no longer needed him. And just with that he thought he could be happy, watching the world anew from a pair of the most lovely untainted eyes he'd ever seen.   
  
It could work. They could be happy. Or at the very least, he'd see that the angelic prince was happy… And from that, he'd work out his own joy in every brilliant smile aimed his way and earned from the 'simple' task of freeing a creature that should never have been pulled away from the world.


	9. In The Hour of Chance

-In the Hour of Chance-  
  
He was laying in the plush bed in that uneasy state of half sleep where the world around one's self feels more fake then the dreams at the edge of conscious when at last the bell tower in the peaceful town below let out the sound he'd been waiting for. It tolled once, the cry of metal lonely as it rode through the chill night air, and Duo carefully crawled out of his castle supplied bed for the last time. One way or another, he wouldn't be seeing this room again. He's either have the prince and flee with him, or he'd be caught… And in that case he thought he'd be seeing another room in this castle. Something small, cold and damp, and with a set of bars supplying the only view.  
  
Quietly, he set about dressing himself in a hurry. Only fifteen minutes until do or die time and he didn't plan on being late for the crucial event. He pulled on some of his tighter clothes, hoping the lack of loose fabric might help with some of the unstoppable noise, and tucked the rest of his things into the faded backpack he'd acquired. Right in the middle of his remaining clothing, he placed the pretty jewelry box and protected it with more soft articles. After checking it a few times to make sure it didn't jiggle too much, or make any obvious sounds when he walked, Duo slipped it over his shoulders and headed to the door. There he stopped and turned back.  
  
Cool amethyst eyes scanned over the regal room, testing perhaps to see if he'd miss it and if he had any regrets about the situation he'd set in front of himself. After all, it wasn't too late for him just to put his stuff away, crawl into bed, and pretend like he'd never had the idea. The soft bed and rugs were tempting, but as his gaze fell on that sad mural, all doubts resolved themselves. He wasn't going to let the prince become another two dimensional piece of art in this tomb people called a castle. That girl would stay alone in her dying world. There would not be even one more casualty of the king's greed and temper. Quatre was getting out of here, and it was going to be tonight.  
  
And with his priorities again placed, the braided youth turned and opened his door… And found himself confronted with the very sharp ends of two swords.  
  
Heero and Wufei looked at him quietly from behind their blades, their faces deadly in their seriousness, and for a moment Duo was sure he'd just arrived at the end of his very twisted line. _And I never even got to touch the prince, how's that for ironic?_ Then the metal drew away from him and while Wufei looked down the hall cautiously, Heero motioned him out and pulled him close with one arm to whisper into his ear. "Don't ask. Trowa told us. Give us whatever stuff you plan on taking with you, and we'll bring it down to the back entrance for you. That way you don't have anything else to juggle until you've gotten out, trust me, you won't need the added hassle or risk. We can't supply you with a horse or we would have, but we have already placed an extra bag out there with some food in it, and a few blankets."  
  
Duo was stunned. The kind gesture, and the support of some of the only friends he'd made up to this date, staggered him. They knew what he was doing, and knew that their king would probably be furious… But it seemed they also understood it had to be done. And that they were willing to put their own lives at risk to help him; he suddenly felt like crying. Indeed, his voice was tumbling out shakily as he pried his bag free and handed it over to Wufei's waiting grasp. "Y-you guys, this… I don't know how to say thanks. This means-"  
  
But as the tears built up in Duo's eyes, Wufei turned back and scolded roughly, "Don't start that now. You have no time for such pointless displays. We know, and you're welcome. Now go and save him, and for the gods sake, see to it that he is happy and well cared for or I'll find you and cut out your heart without another thought."  
  
That was enough of a warning to get Duo's head to bob quickly in response, and even Heero's dark eyes looked a little surprised at his lover's words, but he knew Wufei meant well and was only telling the dry truth as he so often did. As the chestnut haired being started scrubbing all traces of dampness from his eyes, Heero leaned in and continued to whisper. "We've also left that bottom door unlocked for you. The king won't suspect a thing so don't worry, he's presume some idiot left it open going in and out, or that you are that just good at picking locks. Either way, it will save you some time. All the things shall be -right- in the doorway, in a bag leaning up against the wall. Now you have to go, and be careful. Wrap him up as you travel and be patient if he is scared. Good journey."  
  
He listened silently to the kindness of Heero's words, and then to the advice… Though most of it was stuff he would have already done if the need arose. And then the prophet took his cue and began down the dark halls.  
  
He kept to the sides as most he could, using what little shadows were there to aid him hiding in a shroud of dimness. Though after just a little while he realized he probably didn't need to. The halls were peaceful in the dead of night, no steps coming from anywhere and most certainly no alarms being raised in the darkness. As he drifted closer to the prince's own hallway, he wondered vaguely if that was something else his guard friends had down for him or if this was just the usual. It wasn't like he'd made a habit of sneaking out in the middle of the night… And now that he thought of that, how fitting, the temptation had been quelled by the worry of being spotted and attacked as a trespasser before he could explain about curiosity. _I must be insane._   
  
In any case, getting to the East Halls of the castle proved easier to venture through then he could have ever hoped for, but as he went down that last narrow structure towards his final destination he felt a nagging thread of concern despite that fact. Unlike most of the regal and decidedly empty places he'd snuck through tonight to get here, this place didn't have the feeling of peace they did. The hall seemed to be holding it's breath in anticipation, and a low hum of energy was nearly audible in the air around him. It brought back a fragment of some strange dream- _(Oh god, the roof's going to come off! I'm going to get him, then lose him because I could hold him!)_ - but he wasn't sure of what exactly. Most likely, he was just finally feeling his nerves kick in as he drew closer to his main reason for being here.  
  
_One. Two. Three… Four._ His eyes counted the doors on the left side of the hall until they came to rest on that forth closed opening, and then he could only stare for a moment. Somewhere behind that slightly faded door, so odd in itself really since the rest of the castle looked so clean and fresh, lay a small and innocent soul. The prince was probably asleep at this hour, curled into bed and dreaming, maybe even of a world he thought he'd never see. His blonde hair was likely laying tousled across the fluffy pillows, sweet pink mouth slightly open as he shifted in sleep, and one pale hand entwined in his blanket as if to provide an anchor to his real-life room. That vision was real enough in Duo's head that he actually stumbled back and had to brace himself against the wall with a soft groan.  
  
_When love hits, it goes all the way and with a knock-out punch._ He just leaned there quietly and looked over the door as if expecting it to open and invite him in, granting himself a few seconds to gather himself. After all, there'd be no point to going in there then really seeing that and freezing up now would there? This was his one and -only- chance, and if he messed up or showed even one sign of hesitation, he'd be caught. Either the prince himself would start to scream or maybe even Trowa was still in there, and although that man had been helpful up to know, he didn't doubt that his every movement was being judge by the brunette. One mess up and he felt certain Trowa'd be all too happy to label him inadequate as a savior and have him hauled away. After all, Trowa had the luxury of waiting an eternity to pick who he next saw fit to rescue his helpless ward, didn't he?  
  
That bitter thought clicked something sadly true in his mind. In the darkness of the hall, Duo's violet eyes widened until the whites looked like silver coins in the moonlight drifting in through the stained windows. No wonder the man had been so torn between helping him and letting him foul this up on his own… He was in love with the prince, as surely as Duo himself was. That undeniable (at least in his mind) love gave Trowa the knowledge that the prince -shouldn't- be trapped here, but at the same time made him so leery and protective of losing what little contact he had. If that was the case, Duo had to give him some heavy credit. Trowa'd forgone his own heart to do what was best for the angelic looking boy, and that took a lot of effort. It was every saying about loving something and setting it free if you really cared for it in it's worst circumstances. And even with the blonde more or less forced to stay cupped in Trowa's guarding hands now, the silent and brooding young man had chosen the best option for him in the end. It was devotion on a level Duo wasn't sure he'd witnessed before.  
  
As much as he congratulated first himself on figuring it out, and second Trowa for his on untold actions, he also fit that nudging of worry and envy. With the way the brunette had acted, Duo didn't -think- that Trowa had ever gotten his affection return, didn't really think the so called guardian had ever gotten up the nerve to tell his little unwilling captive, but how could he be so sure? What if the prince knew about this fellow's love? And worse… What if he returned it full heartedly and Duo was just going in there to break apart what could potentially be a happy couple? Yes, Quatre was still imprisoned even if he did love Trowa, but in that circumstance it was no longer isolation and any company almost always made whatever burden seem less. So now aside from the worry of being caught and the certainty of punishment, he had a gamble about whether he was truly 'helping' the boy any more or just being selfish.  
  
For almost two minutes he'd stood there arguing to himself, trying to draw a conclusion out of a place in his mind that seemed reluctant to give him one. When he finally moved, it was because of one striking and hopeful realization. Trowa loved the prince, he was -sure- of that just from there brief meeting, or at the very least he cared extremely much for the boy. But Quatre didn't know or didn't return it. If he had, the serious man never would have come to his room with the information. If he had the blonde's love, Duo found it made no sense for Trowa to be trying to help in getting him sent away. …Unless Trowa was a lot stronger and colder then he was already giving him credit for because Duo certainly didn't think he could do that.  
  
But in any case, it gave him the hope enough he needed to continue on his self appointed quest. He stepped away from the firm comfort the wall across from the door provided, one shaky step first then several more confident ones that brought that faded wooden portal closer. It felt like he was watching the hand that reached from the door from someone else's body altogether, seeing through different eyes that pale night-lit arm travel the unforgiving distance through the still air and finally brush the cool metal handle.  
  
His breath stopped in his chest as his fingers closed around the knob, guilty and expectant eyes drifting to the right and left as he waited for the guards that surely must come running to take him away from that bold trespass.  
  
Nothing came. Nothing even moved in this dead hall. The stored up air came out of him quietly and a small grin slowly crept unto his lips, then Duo began slowly turning the handle. When it clicked in it's chamber as a single it was completely open, the profit raised his hand and set it on the center of the door, pressing gently and then stepped back quickly as the door swung open on the prince's chamber…  
  
The room was still lit at this late hour, and that was the first thing that shocked Duo. The next thing that sent his heart beating faster within his chest as his eyes drifted across shadowy things was the child-like quality to the chambers.  
  
About the same size as his own (complete with those doors he could only guess led to a private bath), this room seemed neatly scattered with toys, dolls for the most parts, then a rocking horse at one end, what looked like tin soldiers resting there at the foot of a large and beautiful dresser. A child's ball was resting in one corner against the glass of the window, the light hitting it's strange glossy surface reflecting dull red unto the floor.  
  
But even as his mind fixed on all this toys, other little details of a more grown-up being were slowly seeping into his awareness. On a large book shelve that sat besides the bed, there were several pretty dolls sitting there and staring blankly out, but between their pale and motionless limbs lay a stack of tomes Duo didn't think he'd ever understand even if he had the time to get through such thick old things. There were stacks of poetry and history. And on the other side of the room lay a beautiful chess set, it's pieces not on the original spots, but in various places that suggested some intense game had taken place not too long ago.   
  
A paint easel stood on the floor next to the large colored window, the little pots resting on it's sill all still strangely open, a brush set aside that was still damp with paint as if it'd only just been discard though the seat in front of it was clearly empty. The surface of the canvas had an intricate picture on it that Duo could barely make out from his distance. It looked like some beautiful winged being slipping into or out of an oddly green sea… But it most certainly wasn't a child's piece of art. It was something Duo expected to see on sale for a great price in one of the many markets he'd passed through. And somehow the style seemed so familiar to him…The way the fabric of the creature's-- _angel, it's definitely an angel_ --tunic seemed to flow around the delicate legs reminded him of something he thought he'd only just seen. And the way there wasn't really a halo at all, but yet the style of how the painted sunlight seemed to reflect off the creation's white gold hair suggested it was highly possible one was there.  
  
For a few moments he just stared at that, letting the rest of the room sink in, then something shook him out of his observation. Someone was in the bathing room, he could hear the running water… And so much more important than that. Someone was laying on the bed only a few feet from the painting he was staring at.   
  
Slowly the violet that made up his eyes moved off the fantasy of the art and towards that subtle movement in the mountains of blankets that covered the large bed. He looked over the uneven ridges of thick comforters and plush blankets… And as his eyes rose, he found himself staring into a pair of wide cerulean sea eyes.   
  
But even as he heard the startled gasp he gave from somewhere far away and he looked over the beautiful face attached to those amazing eyes, he realized something else that sent his heart plummeting downward.  
  
The boy in the bed was not the boy he'd seen in the hall or each night in 


	10. Illusions that we Shatter

-Illusions that We Shatter-  
  
_Not him. This isn't my prince…_ Duo's mind screamed this usual things at him, as if the view with his eyes wasn't ever going to be enough. The boy laying mostly under the blankets on the bed wasn't -his- angel, the one he'd seen before, but there were similarities and somehow those cut him deeper then anything.   
  
The boy who'd come dancing into Duo's life through means of dreams and chance glimpses was flawless, pale golden haired and ivory of skin, with bright flashing blue green eyes and a small smile that just seemed to be hinting at knowing some great secret. That boy was slim and delicate, but those things only made him all the more appealing and made someone want to wrap the boy into an embrace and never let him go, to become willing to die to protect him from any harm. Even though he'd never heard a word from that boy's lips, Duo just knew his voice would be like honey and his laughter like the high bells that tolled in church towers around the world. He was doll-like, but almost unearthly in all the beauty that was poured into his every graceful movement… And this wasn't him, couldn't be.  
  
The young man in the bed looked sick, and he had probably been that way for a while. There was no chance he'd been in the hall a week ago and then turned into this. His face and what could be seen of his bare shoulders wasn't slim or slender, it was thin and even though Duo bet this boy had the best diet (Trowa would have made -sure- of that) he looked undernourished and a little drained. The eyes that were still fixed on him had that beautiful color Duo had trouble naming, but beneath them the skin was slightly darkened from nights without sleep. There was a flush across the boy's cheeks, those he was relieved to see still had some childish roundness to them, but that color had nothing to do with being shy or embarrassed and everything to do with possible fever. His hair… That remained the same and was something the brunette near the door was silently thankful for. It hung fully around the boy's features, one pale blonde strand almost draping over a darkly lash lined eye in a wild and free manner. Even with the light coming from the candles in this room it shone like pure sunlight and cast a glow to the poor young it was on.  
  
It was the prince, the real boy, though Duo didn't pretend to know who he'd seen and originally fallen in love with, and he was dying in this room as surely as some long ago forgotten and caged pet. There was still hints in that tiny form of such great potential beauty it made him want to weep, but Quatre only looked neglected and lost in that sea of blankets right now. Still, even the sickness granted him something to cherish. Paler then what Duo's seen and so tragically smaller, right now the boy nearly perfectly resembled one of the toys on his shelves. Those glass dolls with their sparkling eyes, red cheeks, and oh so breakable forms…  
  
Indeed, slowly the pain of the scene reached him and tears welled up in Duo's eyes, threatening to overflow and leave him helplessly sobbing before even walking into the room a single step. _How could they? … Don't they know how he -could- be?  
_  
Perhaps they would have stayed there and stared at one another across the infinite distance of the room for an eternity, the small sickly boy in bed with the huge eyed gaze and the crushed prophet in the door, each thinking their own lost thoughts, were in not for the bathroom door opening and the familiar tall form emerging from there.  
  
"Quatre, you really ought to try to sleep. Your book shall still be here tomorrow and so will you, you can pick it up then. You can't keep staying up this-" Trowa stopped in mid-step, his eyes finally noticing the lack of movement from the blonde and the way his little ward was staring fixedly at the door as though he'd seen a ghost. His own gaze slowly moved that way, easily spotting Duo's rigid form in the shadows just outside… It immediately brought to mind stories of goblins stilling children and evil feys, but he knew the real reason the prophet would be -lurking- around and that chilled him even more. It was time.  
  
Trowa forced himself to swallow before he spoke, afraid of the dry and pitiful sound that wanted to come and would honestly tell exactly what he thought of the situation. He crossed over to the prince's bed and sat gracefully on the edge, reaching a hand out to lightly stroke the boy's shaking shoulder as he explained. "It's all right. He isn't here to hurt you… It's the boy from your dreams, and he's here now to take you out of this castle."  
  
Ever so slowly the prince turned to look up at the other boy, eyes flickering over the familiar features of his guardian with worry before again darting to Duo's hidden form. He nervously nibbled on his bottom lip as he faced back to Trowa, an innocent action that made the braided boy move a little more into the light despite his misgivings, and when that sweet voice came and it was **exactly** as Duo had imagined it, he stepped into the room for the first time. "Out? But Trowa… I'm not supposed…" He stopped and shook his head, glancing to Duo fearfully at that movement before more firmly stating. "I'm not allowed to go out."  
  
Trowa frowned at the answer, flashing Duo a sad expression that begged him for a few minutes as he carefully pulled the boy free of the covers and unto his lap. Duo winced at how easy that look, and noted the way the boy's silk night pants hung from him. He soothed back the wild bangs from Quatre's forehead, pressing a gentle kiss on his temple before correcting him. "You aren't allowed, no. because of your father… But that doesn't make it right. This man is going to take you and let you out. You're going to get to be outside and touch the grass you always look at, and the next time it rains, you're going to dance it if you want, not just watch it streak down the window panes. He can't keep you here any more, Quatre. I can't let it happen any more and there's finally someone else who's willing to take the chance to help you live. You can have all the stuff you read about now, but you have to go with him and it has to be tonight… You only have a few minutes to decide, and I don't think it will happen again."  
  
To his credit the blonde listened to all of that very alarming news without interrupting or bursting into tears, he just stared at Trowa's face while he spoke and seemed to watch the very words come from his mouth with an interest that surprised Duo. It was like he was trying to read something, some hidden message, in each word that Duo couldn't possibly see. Silence fell when Trowa stopped, and it felt heavy in the still of the room.   
  
The cerulean eyes finally left Trowa's face and drifted towards the window, watching the darkness outside calmly while the prince thought through all he'd heard. Duo was having a hard time standing still. Now that he'd seen the boy, been shocked half to death and gotten through the shock to cope with the difference between reality and illusion, he quickly discovered he did still mean to take this boy and free him… It wasn't the same boy in looks but there was still something so sweet in the way he behaved and existed and that was the same. He knew that given a chance and time, Quatre would grow and blossom in the world outside the castle. It was that future being that Duo had fallen for, and probably that was for the best. He wanted to see that boy again, and he could help this poor little creature become that thing of beauty and laughter… If the prince gave him the chance.  
  
Trowa watched these thoughts play over Duo's face, observing the things the prophet didn't even try hide before finally looking away. In his heart he thought he already knew what would happen, and he didn't want to waste whatever time he had being jealous of the braided male. He just dropped his head into the small curve of the prince's shoulder, holding and coveting him for the few minutes before Quatre again spoke. "I want to go with him."  
  
With those simple words Duo's heart nearly flew even as Trowa felt his own die a little. Duo moved forwards quickly, only to get Trowa's hand rising and halting him in midstep as he very gently set the prince back into his bed. "Before you just snatch him away and take him to this new life, grant me a second to speak with you… Please?"  
  
"S-sure… Not a problem." Duo's eyes moved anxiously from the prince form back up to Trowa's unnervingly steady gaze. "Where?"  
  
"The bathroom. The hall's too dangerous so it will have to do." He pointed absently to the doors, then looked at Quatre again. "Go ahead and very quickly pack some things you want to take with you while I speak with him. You can use my night bag for your stuff. Just dump it on the bed then pack your own things, choose wisely because I doubt you'll be able to come back to get more. Just be quick, okay?"  
  
The blonde head nodded quickly, not taking the time to question the instructions as he scooted off the side of the bed and moved to comply. Trowa got up and walked stiffly to the bathroom, holding the door open for Duo and waiting for him to enter before closing it behind them. The darkness in here and the close quarters felt suffocating to Duo, and he waited in expectation for either pleas from Trowa or threats. What he got instead was a useful if not slightly worrisome surprise. Just more instructions about caring for the blonde.  
  
"It will be tough at first. He hasn't been out and so that would be rough enough on his body to adapt too, but he's also sick right now so you'll have to be wary of that as well. Keep him bundled up, even if he complains about feeling stifle. Don't assault his stomach with too many new and rich foods at first, I know you'll want him to try everything but take it slow or he'll get worse. He's stubborn and will probably want to walk on his own, but since he is sick right now, don't let him do too much and work himself into a faint. He'd rather walk himself to the ground then admit to needing help for the most part, he has that much pride. If he gets cut, bandage and care for it right away, no exceptions. He might be allergic to stuff out there, there's no way to tell, so also keep an eye out for that. And-" Trowa forced himself to halt for a second, realizing exactly how much of a mother hen he sounded like. But he'd cared for Quatre for most of his own and the prince's life. You got used to the quirks, first you dealt with them, then you grew to expect and even love them a little. He still couldn't believe he was willing to hand his prince over to this strange dark fellow who had no idea how to deal with him. A few minutes ago if he'd had these thoughts he would have stood and slammed the door right in Duo's face and made a lie for the blonde, now he was trapped and had to go on. Life was unfair sometimes.  
  
In the oppressing silence, Duo could guess what was going through the tall young male's mind even if he couldn't see the suddenly stung look on Trowa's face. He reached up and out blindly and was relieved when he hand fell on what could only be the guardian's shoulder. "I'll do all of that, I promise. Trowa, I won't let -anything- hurt him, not even myself. Quatre's going to be fine and be happy no matter what I have to do to see that he is. If he gets sick I'll do something for the money and take him to the best healer I can find, and if he no longer wants that world out there, I swear no matter how much it kills me I'll bring him back to you. But he'll be okay…"  
  
"I know you'll take care of him… It's just a big job, and he's such a little thing. Someone like him-" Trowa frowned into the dark, then sighed and dropped his head with a murmur-" Someone like him just wasn't meant for a world like this, Duo. I'm so glad he's here, but I don't think it ever should have happened at all, and certainly not like this. Treasure each second, even when it gets rough, tell me you'll at least try to do that?"  
  
"You know I will. It's impossible not too… He's going to get better out there and be who he should have been, even if it takes the world to do so."  
  
Quiet again for a few seconds, then Trowa stepped away from him and opened the door, letting enough light into the room for Duo to see his way out and for him also to observed the stoic male was currently wiping at his cheeks and looking miserable. _You can't lose something like he's losing and be fine, it's just not possible._ He quickly scurried out of the bathroom, giving Trowa his peace to collect himself and looking for the prince.  
  
Quatre was sitting back on the bed and he glanced up when Duo came out, uncertainty flickering in his eyes at the sight of the prophet before he returned his attention to the objects in his hands. He was dressed now and that was something Duo was both relieved and to be honest disappointed to see. Quatre had slipped into a pair of dark blue breaches that were held tightly at the thinly tapered waist by a belt, tiny black shoes, and crisp white silk shirt. An over shirt rested on the bed besides his crossed legs, something that matched the pants and was thicker, presumably to protect against the chills of night. In his hands and in a stack between his legs were some books, and Duo looked to the side to notice the empty spots on the shelves. Somehow he'd thought he'd come out and find the toys peeking out of the boy's bags, and he was glad to see he was mistaken… Even if that still doubtful look he'd gotten felt a bit like a punch to the stomach. He had faith that Quatre'd warm up to him eventually.  
  
One book was set gently aside and the other lucky one was added to the messy pile between his legs, then Quatre lifted it and started carefully placing the heavy things on top of whatever else was in the old sack. He tied the top of the bag shut in a prissy manner, rechecking it, then hoisting it up and shaking it a little just to be sure and those actions brought a smile to Duo's face.  
  
He heard Trowa step out behind him and saw Quatre's attention again flicker up, and then came that little nagging voice as he witnessed first hand the look of utter trust the prince had for this serious boy. _He'll look at me like that one day too. I'll find a way to earn it._ His childishly jealous thoughts were shaken apart as Trowa spoke just behind him. "You should go now. You've already spent too much time in here. Quatre, are you ready?" Though he didn't speak it, it was clear enough to Duo that he also asked in his own silent and hopeful way _'Quatre, are you sure you still want to go? It's not too late to say no and go back to bed.'  
_  
But to his relief, Quatre answered quickly, and though his voice was quiet and noticeably nervous, he sounded positive. "I'm ready. I have everything. He… He'll led the way out of the castle?"  
  
"He'll carry you out of the castle." Quatre's mouth opened to protest and Trowa quickly hurried on without giving him a chance, "It'll be faster and safer if he does. You're still sick. You'll have all the time in the world once you are better to walk around out there, but for now, please don't argue."  
  
"Oh! Fine." Duo discovered he liked the way the blonde's lower lip stuck out when he'd been scolded, it was cute in a totally kissable-- No, best not to go there right now. How could he even be letting his mind meander in that direction at all with the shock he'd just been through.  
  
Trowa stepped around him and approached the bed, bending down gracefully even as Quatre put his coat on, placed the bag on his back then reached accepting arms up to him. Duo watched from a few feet away as Trowa easily lifted the boy and cradled him to his chest, then turned and started back towards the prophet with a saddened frown. Quatre's stormy eyes were also on him, his blonde head resting comfortably against the broad chest of his guardian as he looked over Duo worriedly. The tall youth stopped in front of him and held his precious little burden out, but for a minute Duo found he just -couldn't- take the boy.   
  
"I…" That came out in a dry squeak and sounded like un-oiled hinges, Duo coughed and shook his head. "I can't… I'll drop him, I just know it."  
  
"You won't drop him. He's light, Duo… And he isn't made of glass." Before the half demon could even protest again, Trowa was pressing the small bundle out to him, and slowly pale little arms were winding around his neck as if they were meant to be there.  
  
He looked down slowly and was confronted with the prince's upturned face, his own pale lips pressed together in worry and eyes searching Duo's face for something. Duo could only hold his breath, realizing if the prince rejected him now Trowa'd grab him, call the guards and be damned with what it meant for all of them. He just held still and kept quiet, looking over that face now that it was closer. He was mesmerized with the delicate lines on the pink of Quatre's lips, and there was something about the way the blues and greens in his eyes and how they seemed to switch the moment you looked away that was almost like the magic he himself tampered with. The blonde hair laying across one cheek suddenly caught his attention and he couldn't help himself. He shifted the boy's weight carefully to one arm, a small part of him mind agreeing with what Trowa had said and noting how disturbingly easy it was to do so, then used the other to brush the hair aside and lightly pet the smooth curve of Quatre's cheek. " … I'll take care of you."  
  
"I know… Thank you, Duo." A tiny smile danced across his lips and Duo lost himself a little more in that, then Quatre's eyes closed and he just settled his head on the demon's shoulder and snuggled in.  
  
When he at last looked up from the captivating sight of the prince at last in his arms and how peaceful he looked, he found himself with another frown on Trowa's face. For once though, he didn't think it was directed at him. Trowa wasn't really looking at him, but at Quatre, and Duo didn't truly think he was seeing the prince so much as thinking. When he realized there were eyes on him, he looked up and asked something odd that Duo didn't quite understand at the moment. "You never told him…"  
  
He blinked. "What?"   
  
Trowa just shook his head. "Never mind, I guess it isn't important." he turned and walked over to the door without allow Duo the chance to question him again. Slowly Trowa cracked the door open and stared quietly out into the hall, after a moment he looked back over his shoulder and gave Duo a 'come here' motion. He hurried forward, watching the way he walked and trying not to jiggle the prince around to much as he pressed against the wall near the door.  
  
"It's clear. Very likely, most of the halls will be. If you are taking the path I recommended there should be no problem at all, if not, just be extra careful and keep your ears open." The dark forest eyes dropped then to the body cuddled against Duo's chest, and softly Trowa stroked the silky blonde locks and leaned in to kiss Quatre's round cheek and murmur into his ear. "You're free now, little one."   
  
He sighed sadly, but managed a tragic smile as Quatre turned in Duo's grip to look up at him with wide eyes. "I can't let my heart hold you any longer or I'd be no better then the cruel man who put you here in the first place. Be happy, explore the world, taste and touch everything, love if you will, but be happy…"  
  
Duo couldn't pretend he wasn't here and hearing this, but he did turn his face to the side, trying to give them some form of privacy and for now feeling nothing but a little sad for the serious male. It was a good-bye and Trowa deserved nothing but sympathy.  
  
Quatre wiggled around a bit and freed one arm, bringing it up and lightly touching Trowa's cheek as he whispered- "You are free too now. Go away from the castle… It's poison here. Find a life and make it good, and thank you. You're my best friend, Trowa, and I'll never forget you…"  
  
He bit his lower lip, one hand holding that small appendage against his face as if afraid to lose it now would be death. "Quatre, I-"  
  
"Shh. Don't… I know, and it's okay. You aren't such a mirror as you want to be, Trowa, and hopefully now you don't need to be at all. I care about you, and I hope you will try to find a new life. You've helped me and I wish I could do the same for you. Don't let this kill you, Trowa. It's all… Only life. Remember, what you told me about the birds."  
  
Something flickered in the darkness of Trowa's eyes and he nodded, and slowly the hand released Quatre's. "There are other worlds in which to sing." Amazingly enough a small smile touched his lips, then Trowa gave Quatre one more chaste kiss on the boy's warm temple and stepped back. "But I hope you stay part of this one, little one. We'd be losing something great."  
  
"I hope you do too. Live well, my friend." He looked over those familiar features one last time, then smiled at him and rolled over in Duo's arms to again bury his head. Trowa swallowed roughly, then nodded to Duo and opened the door for him. "For the gods sakes, Duo, take care of him, please?"  
  
There was little he could do but nod in the face of Trowa's strong again expression, though his eyes told the truth. He shifted Quatre's slight weight in his arms again, then stuck his own head out the door. Nothing moved, and so slowly he stepped out and began his escape from the castle. 


	11. Checkmate

-Checkmate-  
  
Again he felt the press of the stillness in the hallway, closing around him and seeming to fill his ears with the very loud nothing. It felt as though it was seeping through his clothes and into his skin as he slowly crept through the darkness, trying to clog his veins with doubt and fear. He tried to tell himself he was just being paranoid and imagining it was worth then it was, but somehow it didn't help and if anything, that cold weight settled more heavily. The world around him was waiting for something and he knew it. Even the blonde beauty in his arms seemed aware that something was amiss.   
  
From the moment the door had clicked shut behind them, Quatre had raised his head and quietly watched everything, even though there wasn't much to see here, with the rapt attention of a child. His eyes drifted to the clock on the wall they passed and Duo was mildly alarm to find himself relieved to hear it's ticking hands in motion, though he didn't understand why. _Not painted._ He squirmed a bit to study the weave of the carpet below them as Duo walked, then went still as he stared at the wall paper in interest. Duo found nothing too amazing about that particular pattern, but he supposed it was different from the one in the prince's chambers and that was probably enough to make it thrilling through his eyes. It was change.  
  
They crept along through the dark for what felt like hours, even though Duo figured it was probably more like a quarter of an hour then any where close to a full one. He listened to the rise and fall of the unbroken silence, yet none of that did anything to soothe his jumpy nerves.  
  
Going down the stairs and ultimately towards their destination brought another squirm from Quatre. Duo didn't try to scold him for the movement, he just glanced down to make sure the blonde wasn't trying to get his attention, then hurried on. Actually, feeling Quatre move relieved him. It was a very good reminder he was carting around a living thing and ought be extremely careful. But for this time, Quatre had only shifted to watch the banister of the stairs as they plodded onward. He had a feeling once they actually stopped to rest for the night that he was going to be watching the prince wander around wherever they were touching everything, and as long as it was somewhere safe, he didn't think he'd mind just sitting back and watching. Sometimes people forget how beautiful the world around them can be, and by watching a child or innocent soul explore it, it's almost like discovering an old friend.  
  
The conservatory at night was a lot less relaxing then it's day lit counterpart. Duo kept steadily to the center of the of the room once he'd reached the bottom of the narrow metal stairwell, eyeing the hanging limbs of the plants around here as if worried about them suddenly reaching out. In the shadow light, every spider plant's vines looking like very greedy hands ready to grab and hurt and even the small heads of the flowers he could see were bobbing lightly on their stalks as if giggling to one another as they watched him pass. The trees in the giant pots by the corners and the soft breeze traveling through their green arms sounded like whispers to the prophet. It's _just a conservatory, you know that so stop this shit right now before you scare Quatre as well._ But it was easier to think that then to ever comply. Just another look around the room brought to mind pictures of the jungles he'd heard of, of big snakes that could swallow men whole and of hunting cats the size of small ponies. Never mind that he could see the glass door only a few yards away, you never just walked out of the jungle unscathed, now did you? No, there was always some **thing** lurking just under that last shrub, it's hungry black eyes drifting over your body and deciding which looked like the most tasty part. And just as you reached for the openness outside that hot plant world, you felt it wrap around your leg and drawing you back. And once it had you -- His thoughts died with a whimper as something wrapped around Duo's ankle.  
  
The prophet went utterly stiff, the messy bangs and stray hairs of his braid rising in automatic fear around his shocked features. The thing, try as he might to brush it off as a plant vine, was -moving-. Steadily he felt that furry grip rise from his ankle and curl around his calf, as if testing and teasing the prophet. It was gone for a second, but back again before he could react, just a feather brush along the line of his shoes… And if he looked down he knew he'd see the upturned face of some closet horror, all sharp teeth ad stupidly malicious eyes. But maybe if he was lucky he could throw Quatre towards the door and get a scream out before it tried to eat him. He could already hear the clear crunching snap of his bones in the jaws of whatever death awaited him just below. All rational thought seemed to be slowly draining from him as he felt that thing pass him again.  
  
"Duo?"   
  
That sounded like it came from miles away, such a sweet sound and one that nearly promised safety. Safety this thing wouldn't allow him. He was going to die, very likely, -they- were going to die and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.  
  
"Duo? Are you okay? … Isn't that a cat? I know I saw one in one of my books once and it looked a lot like that. I thought most people liked them, why are you so upset?"  
  
_Cat?_ He felt the prince shifting in his grip and was aware of a cool little hand pressing against his cheeks. Then suddenly Quatre's face was in front of him, brow furrowed in worry as he checked over the pale and tense features of his would be hero. _It's a cat?! Can't he see the fangs and claws and grabby limbs? Doesn't he know we're going to get ea-_  
  
"It's just a baby cat, Duo, I don't think it's hungry enough to resort to eating anyone yet."  
  
The violet eyes slowly blinked in confusion, then narrowed in on that pretty face right in front of his. Quatre smiled gently and again stroked Duo's cheek, then drew his hand away and pointed down. That one lowered glance took more effort right now then he could remember starting this whole thing had. His slowly dropped his gaze, waiting for the cheerily grinning monster face to come into sight and wondering why the blonde wouldn't see it… What he saw instead, winding between his ankles with young persistence, was a little black and white cow-spotted kitten. The thing was happily charging between his long limbs and letting it's side and tail strike Duo's pants, and the tail of course was curling around whatever whenever it could.   
  
He just stared at that little thing for several long seconds, watching it's ceaseless, self amusing pattern. Finally it dropped unto his haunches and looked up at him with a squeaky mewl. Quatre laughed in delight at the sound, and that was enough to break away the last of his terror like the cold ice that sometimes clung to one's cloak in the winter. That angelic sound also made up his mind on another matter in seconds.  
  
Bending carefully so as not to drop or jostle Quatre around to much, he scooped one hand under the feline's rolly poly belly and hefted it up. Duo placed it on Quatre's currently level stomach as he eyed the small gap in the floor windows near the door. A missing pane was clearly evident about half way across the room. _Well, that explains the breeze and the little 'jungle dweller'._ "Hold him close, okay? I don't think we should stop again even if he squirms away."  
  
Quatre stared up at him with delight and with something close to hero worship as he cuddled the little furry being to his chest, and Duo suddenly felt he could probably live through another few spooks like that if he got such a reward each time. As he started walking again, this time with that calm relief anyone felt when discovering the hulking monster in the corner was no more then a stack of blankets thrown carelessly over a chair, his mind drifted to the calming way the blonde had broken through to him. It was almost as though Quatre had known what he was feeling… And thinking. But that was just coincidence. It had to be.  
  
He could predict the future and the current through his visions, yes, but that took effort and lot training, or a source of natural talent. Knowing peoples thoughts before they often clumsily voiced them was something he'd tried and found next to impossible. People were the wild cards of the worlds, and you never knew what to expect as far as they were concerned. It was why his own visions were so easy to divert when one wanted too. Besides, people rarely ever said what they were actually thinking, it was like one of those weird rules all of humanity shared. So, it was just a coincidence that Quatre had used that term to soothe him, nothing else. It wasn't too hard to imagine.   
  
He made it to the door without further incident and let out a pent up sigh when his long pale fingers closed around it's cool latch. Just beyond this fragile glass barrier was the night and freedom. He'd step out, grab the bag that Heero and Wufei had kindly packed for him, then hurry off towards the woods through which he'd originally arrived. They'd rest there and he'd let Quatre wander for a bit, then they'd head out again before dawn. They'd get a horse in the next town and ride it for several long hours. He'd make sure the prince rested during that time, and by the time he woke up again, they'd be far enough away they could relax a bit. Then an inn room and talking, after that who knew? But first the door. Piece of cake.  
  
The door itself wasn't a problem, but he did discover one just shortly after. He couldn't find the bag right away. He looked in the small over hanging arch carefully and didn't see anything, even nudged his foot into the dark of the corner to make sure he wasn't missing it. Thought _they said right against the wall here?_ But his growing annoyance and worry came to a quick cease when he poked his head out of the stoop and saw the mounded shape resting further down against the outside wall. So it was just a little off from where he'd expected, he'd misunderstood and it was nothing to let himself get all worked up again over.  
  
He edged out of the door well and started towards the lump quietly, feeling the rhythmatic slap of his braid on the small of his back and on his bottom and feeling Quatre's warm breaths against his covered chest. He was finally calm and certain of their escape, and that was of course when disaster struck, and struck hard.  
  
At the same time as a torch flared up a few yards to the right of him, something collided brutally with the back of Duo's head. His vision flashing with bright dots, he stumbled and fell to his knees, though to his credit his arms never loosened around the small bundle of the prince. Quatre let out a small sound, then clung closer.  
  
As more torches were lit and he finally looked up with a pained groan, he could see the shadowy forms drawing nearer across the royal lawns. Guards, about twenty of them and without the faces of his friends anywhere among them. Most of them were sneering and looking quite pleased with themselves, and -all- were armed. Duo started to struggle up to his feet, determined to run if he could and to fight if he couldn't, but he wouldn't let them take Quatre when he'd gotten this far.  
  
A heavy hand settled on his shoulder and stopped any motion as it clenched roughly. He grit his teeth against a cry, refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing that as he slumped and just held the frail form to him.  
  
"I believe you got something there that belongs to the king, devil mage. You'd best be setting him down and moving back if you don't want to get yourself injured." It was a slow drawl, something dry and rough to the ears, like what you'd expect an ogre to sound like.  
  
"I'm not letting him go. He doesn't belong in that room or in this castle. If you try to take him, you'll get him in the end, but I swear I'll kill some of you first… Even if I have to tear your throats out with my teeth. Do you understand me, you ignorant pig? Come any closer to us and I WILL see your blood stain this grass."  
  
The footsteps that had been advancing paused, and he watched from under his bangs as the guards looked at one another warily. This was supposed to be easy and fun for them, they weren't actually expecting a fight. They'd caught him, and he was just supposed to surrender, wasn't he? The brute that had spoken spread his hands and gave Duo a friendly 'we're all chums, here' smile. "Now now, no need for that kind of threat, wizard. We just want the boy. He needs to go back to his rooms, you and I both know that. Hand him over and we'll let you just walk out of here, on my word as a good soldier."  
  
Cool purple eyes narrowed angrily, "You're word isn't worth the manure this garden was planted with. I will not give him over." Then something flickered in his eyes and he tipped his head to get his hair out of his eyes, giving the guard a sharkish grin that sent bumps down the man's back. "Take me to your king. I'm sure he is up now, probably watching and making sure his little canary doesn't get too far from his cage. So take me too him. I will go without struggle."  
  
The guard snorted and rolled his eyes, dark greasing eyebrows lifting in the amusement of it all. "You ain't gonna be allowed to see the king. Think we'd be dumb enough to let you near our Lordship after the things you just said?"  
  
"If he wishes to avoid bloodshed then I expect to see him. One way or another you must take me to him or -nothing- will be absolved. If you refuse, we will either be forced into a fight and one that will benefit neither side, or I **will** get away even if I must leave him here…" He scrambled up to his feet this time with no one trying to stop him, turning around in a half circle to glare at the loaming shape of the castle and shout- "How would the people of your town react to knowing there is an heir to the throne of a dying king, and that he has been a prisoner for years?! Just a dirty little secret, your -majesty-?" He spat that word hatefully out then plowed right on. "Will they just forgive and forget, do you think? I think they'll remember the tragedy that occurred years ago! They'll remember their guilt, and they'll hate you for it… Especially when they look at **his** beautiful face and see the features of her who you killed. They'll revolt, Sire, and they will watch as your castle burns to the ground with you in it! Let me see you and speak with you or before dawn, I swear they shall know the truth!!"  
  
As his last shout died into the cold of the night, the silence was uninterrupted for one long and frightening second. Then from somewhere on the second story a window pushed open with a creak. Duo's eyes picked out the motion and narrowed in on it, and on the hulking form within. Over the nervous shifting of the guards a raspy voice lowered to them like a brush of death. "Bring them to the throne room, I shall see him."

-----  
  
He almost missed the oppressing silence as Duo walked within the cluster of armed guards. Their swords clanged loudly against their armor and echoed up into the high ceilings of the main hall then back down to the procession as they marched towards the throne room.  
  
Once the king had spoken, things moved quickly. They'd gathered around him in a half circle and with barked instructions, marched him back through the conservatory and into the main parts of the castle. He saw no sign of Heero or Wufei as they passed through, and part of him was painfully worried on that subject. He could only imagine that he'd been found out through them and hoped they hadn't been tortured or punished for their involvement, though that seemed unlikely. And the guards had left Quatre in his arms, probably more from his earlier threat then because of the king's agreement.  
  
The blonde was frozen into a protective tight ball on his arms, one tiny hand pressed over his ear and his face tensed from all the noise and action. The other hand was wrapped dutifully around the now yowling kitten. Duo could feel the boy shaking against his chest, and worse could feel the hammering and rapid thud of Quatre's heart against the arms that were holding him up. It reminded him of picking up field mice as a child. They were so scared that they sometimes just died of fright in human hands, their little hearts unable to cope. He only kept his own mask of calm in place with the hopes of giving Quatre at least some comfort, and smiled down at him slightly when one cerulean eye winked open and fixed up at him.  
  
In truth, he wasn't scared or even nervous right now, and that fact surprised him… But he was furious. He found the closer he walked to the room where he'd finally confront the king, and with the 'evidence' so to speak cradled right in his arms, the angrier he grew. He **hated** the bastard that had the nerve to turn what could have been a glorious young boy into this poor fragile creature. It was selfish, it was cruel, and it seemed nearly sacrilegious in his mind. The king -knew- about his son, he knew and he still left the boy up in his room to rot away… Someone like didn't deserve to live, let alone be allowed to continue such treatment. One way or another, he'd persuade the king to release Quatre into his care.  
  
They reached the end of the long hall, and Duo was unspeakable thankful of the moment of silence that fell when the soldiers stopped. Quatre perked up to look around as the muffled thunder heard even through his hand ceased, flashed Duo a worried expression, then hide against his shirt again. And the kitten just went about it's miserable squawking, and Duo didn't blame it one bit.  
  
The gruff guard that had spoken with him out in the garden was the one that emerged from the crowd to open the double doors now. He stepped through the armed men, taking the opportunity to sneer at the prophet on the way by , then lifted the handles with an ominous click and pushed the huge wooden gates aside to allow them into the throne room.  
  
Duo took a deep breath and closed his eyes momentarily, wishing for the best but truthfully expecting the worst. He gave the ashen haired prince a gentle hug, afraid he'd not have the chance to do so after this final confrontation, then braced himself and sternly walked through the huge archway and into the king's chambers.


	12. In the Court of the Forsaken King

-In the Court of the Forsaken King-  
  
Despite preparing himself and knowing what to expect, Duo found himself wincing away from the sight of the grisly bag of bones on the throne. It was somehow made only so much worse by the fact the ragged creature was only wearing a pair of sleeping pants like he'd found Quatre in.  
  
Above the clean cool green of the king's pants, his chest rose and fell in unsteady patterns of his breath, bones shone through the paper thin veil of his skin and veins clearly corded out where muscles had once been. The flesh above his stomach was an unearthly greenish shade made worse by the pale flickering light of the candelabra to either side of his chair, as if rot had already taken a hold of him somewhere deep inside where the doctors could not yet reach. His arms rested limply on the chair arms, nothing more then sticks fitted with a human mask really… His head was still the worst. The grinning skull of the insane. The skin there wasn't loose, oh no that would be a relief, but taunt across the firm structure of the bones beneath. His lips were pulled back in an eternal mocking smile, eyes forced to the narrowest glaring point. And like some sick idiot's idea of a joke, the sparkling gold crown of the kingdom rested on a nest of this -thing's- brittle whitish yellow hair.  
  
Still, his steps up to the front of that huge chair never ceased or slowed. No dying waste of space could be allowed to stop this and somehow he knew that. … Though his heart went out to Quatre.  
  
The prince raised his head and got one look at the life putrid form sitting just ahead of them, let out a low whimpering cry of terror, then went limp for the most part in Duo's arms. His head thudded heavily against his shoulder and when Duo glanced down at him briefly, he could see the whites of Quatre's eyes fluttering just underneath his closed lids. He understood completely, it was a hell of a lot to take in on your first day as a free person. Hell, in your first -hour- of being free. The little kitten struggled out from under that confining arm, then curled up under Quatre's chin in a shivering ball.   
  
He took the final steps up to the throne, leaving about a yard between himself and the chairs legs… And then waited.  
  
Runny yellow eyes drifted over the prophet for what felt like forever, then dropped to the child in his arms. That grin slackened just a bit. "Why do you try to steal the boy from me?"  
  
"His name is -Quatre-. Not boy. You know this. I'll accept you calling me that, but show your damned son some show of respect, if only in my presence and for right now. He deserves at least that much from you!"  
  
" …. Quatre then. My pretty pet prince. Why do you have him, prophet? I should have you killed just for touching the door behind which he rested. It is a known rule in this castle."  
  
Duo growled lightly at the term the king used, knowing it wasn't just to get a rise out of him but because the king really did feel that's what the blonde was. "I don't give a flying fig about your rules. You can take them and shove them right up your old puckered hole. What I -do- care about is right here in my arms. I want Quatre, and I will not leave here without him. All I am giving you is a chance to agree with **how** I leave and nothing more."  
  
"Oh!" Dry barking laughs followed Duo's announcement, sounding more like death wheezes then anything else. Then the king cut then off abruptly and leaned forward to announce with impish glee, "He's not going with you, boy. His place is here, in the castle, in his room. With a locked door between him and us. Unnatural thing that he is, he's alive only because I didn't have the heart to have him drowned in a bucket at birth."  
  
"You bastard! He's a human, a human born out of -love-. There is nothing unnatural about that. You only hate it because it wasn't a part of your love! The woman you were obsessed with could NEVER love a creature like you in return! You held her and coveted her, tried to keep her caged, and in the end you killed her, just like you would with Quatre if given enough time! You keep him not because he's 'unnatural', but because he's all you have that reminds you of Eli-"  
  
"STOP! Mention not her name to me or I shall have both you and he dragged out of here this second and hung!" The king's hands were gripping the ends of his arm so tightly that Duo could see them shaking, and the cords in his neck stood up like small tree branches as the old man screamed in his face.  
  
And yet instead of being shaken off his course by that enraged threat, Duo felt thrilled. It was a shift of power in this room and conversation. He carefully shifted a hand out from under Quatre (silently thankful again that the boy was out of it) and rose it to very lightly stroke the pale blonde locks off the prince's damp forehead, watching closely as the king immediately went silent himself and followed that motion avidly. When Duo spoke again it was in a thought thoughtful whisper. "Just like his mother's, isn't it? That pure untouched sunlight… I bet his would curl a bit if his was long too. How many nights have you thought of him up there, and actually wanted to go and open the door between you, if only to touch his locks as you wanted to touch hers?"  
  
His violet eyes flickered up to the old skeleton, and when the king glanced up at him briefly it was only to shake his head, lick his lips like a man dying of thirst and then go back to watching Quatre again. "His eyes are just like hers too… I've seen the picture, Highness, and I've stared into his eyes. They hold the same beautiful shades within them, like being under water as you drowned and looking up those last wavery few feet to see the sun shining on blindly above. It's like feeling yourself fall a little deeper each time those eyes turn on you, isn't it?  
  
"S-she…" This time the king did answer, in a soft useful voice like he just couldn't help himself. It was still the dry rattle of only those old enough to see the rise and fall of the world around him, but Duo thought it was miles better then his cackling from before. "She always used those eyes on me. She knew, you see? Whenever she just smiled at me… I would -try- so hard to get her the world if that was what she wanted…"  
  
Duo sighed and shook his head, commiserating falsely with that. "But she never wanted anything, did she? You could never give her something and make her smile for you, could you? All that she wanted was that one thing…"  
  
"And I couldn't give her that! She was mine, and she should have known it! It was my right to marry whom I wanted, and I wanted her! I could have given her anything! She should have been happy, but she was never happy with -me-. I offered her money and power, jewels and gowns of the finest silks and satins! Paintings that showed her beauty like nothing else could! I filled her room with fresh flowers myself and built my castle around her whims! Stupid selfish girl!"   
  
That outburst tapered off as the king's old hands lifted to cover his face, weeping into their cupped darkness as weakly as a young child.  
  
Duo watched without sympathy, thinking quietly that those few tears after all these years and come far too late would never be enough to pay for all he'd done. But still, it was going where he wanted it too, and that in itself was hopeful. He gave the king a few minutes and waited until those gasping and snuffly breaths had slowed, then looked down at the boy resting unconsciously in his arms and ventured softly- "It might already be too late to earn Quatre's love, Majesty… There have been so many years when I'm sure he's lain up in his room and wondered about the father he never had and what he did wrong to remain there… But you might still be able to earn his respect and thanks. And you might be able to make sure he remembers you without hate…"  
  
The hands slipped away from the withered face, looking up at Duo with the dark eyes of a watchful and wary predator. But he was listening, and that was all the prophet wanted.  
  
"Let him go, Sire… Free him while he still has the energy and will to live at all. Let him make a life from himself outside of his cage and let him be happy just in that little gift you can give him. He will not be here, but he could have that happy life you tried to give her, and it wouldn't cost you anything but letting us walk out of here quietly." He paused after that soft request, catching his breath and shifting Quatre a little in his arms so the king could see that innocently restful face. "He deserves that chance at least. And if you are worried what the town will think, of you letting your only heir walk away… They need not ever know. You have kept his existence a secret up until now, and if you just allow us to leave together, I see no reason to tell them. They'll never be any wiser to what's taken place, and your son can go somewhere far away with me and learn how to live in the world outside. That could work, Majesty. It only needs your approval and you can stop what's happening now from being a repeat of that past you hate."  
  
He was so expecting a tearful acceptance and a spewing of apologies the boy would never know of, that it caught him off guard when the king's ancient face hardened in anger. His answer was little more then the hiss of a venomous and just plain old pissed snake. "My -son-? That boy is not my child! He is the result of my wife cheating on me! He should never have been born at all. I will not allow you to carry him out of here, no matter what sweet words you offer to aide your cause. I do not owe him happiness or freedom, and HE WILL NOT HAVE THEM!"  
  
Each of those words grew in volume, echoing in the room like broken glass and making Duo hop back a step. The king's bony fingers jabbed at the end of one arm of his chair, punctuating each of those final words cruelly. "He was born in that room! And he shall die there as well! Tonight will be the only night he will have ever seen the world beyond his doors. She chose her death in that room rather then to be with me, and I refuse to give him any choice at all! Perhaps if he is wise he shall leap to his death like my poor doomed Elizabeth!!"  
  
Duo felt those words wash over him like a spray of chilling ice and he held Quatre closer as his head sank defeatedly down. It was clearly impossible to reason with the king, and he would not be given anyway to free Quatre short of a fight with hopeless odds or a miracle… Neither held much stock in Duo's mind. He was going to die after this meeting… And the prince was very likely going to wake up within the same four walls he'd known all his life. There was just nothing he could do, and he'd tried so hard. But still, he looked up with the full intent of -trying- to convince the king one more time -- and paused.  
  
The king was staring at Duo, his mouth opening and closing like that of a fish on land. His yellow eyes were horribly wide and shaking with what appeared to be fear as he just gaped at the prophet mutely and trembled. Duo for the life of him didn't know what the hell had so scared the old man and actually turned around to see if there wasn't another person standing behind him and if perhaps that was what had so struck fear into that shriveled old heart. His own heart took a painful lurch itself when he turned slightly and glanced over his shoulder. Someone **was** there… His angel.  
  
The small blonde boy was dressed as when Duo'd first seen him, that almost bathrobe-like covering that framed the small form rather then hid it. His face was perfectly proportioned and full, the pretty pink lips resting in a petulant little frown and the gorgeous blue eyes narrowed. There was no trace of sickness in this shining young man, he was the image of flawlessness as he stood on the regal carpets and stared at the king.  
  
_It's him…_ Duo's breath was stolen. He looked over this suddenly there boy, then down at the one in his arms. _Twins? Were there were -two- sons born?!_ Quatre wane face was still deeply trapped in that horror brought sleep, but as he felt Duo's arms tighten around him he let out a protesting little sigh, then rolled over and pressed his face against the demon's shirt. And Duo was torn. Before him stood the angel, the one he'd thought he'd fallen in love with him. In his arms lay the boy who needed his love and protection, and whom he discovered he wanted to care for even if it wasn't the 'Quatre' that had originally sparked his interest. He shouldn't be so weak as he was and Duo knew it, he should look just like that golden form standing there now. Yet still, he felt himself terribly lost between the two conflicting images of the prince that lay right before him.  
  
Before that confusion and indecision could tear Duo's mind apart, the newest form of the prince began to change right before his eyes. The bathrobe he'd first seen Quatre in slowly brightened in color, hues of the sky and ocean creeping onto it around the edges even as the cotton seemed to bell out around the boy's legs. The waist drew in to fit perfectly around his thin middle, and the belt that held that bath piece closed widened and darkened into a royal blue silk. Duo watched as the ends of what was clearly a bow blossomed behind the creature like some new rare flower. His lovely pale legs grew even lighter in color, and it took the prophet a moment to understand that was because there were now stockings covering those limbs. And as his eyes followed the white cloth swirling down 'Quatre's' legs, he saw they now came to an end in a pair of pretty little dress shoes.  
  
The face was the most dramatic change and what very nearly caused Duo to black out himself. As he watched, the creature's eyes never shifting off the king, the beautiful blonde fluff he'd always thought was enchanting began to elongate around this mock Quatre's face. He watched it grow before his eyes like some frightening circus trick, piling on the slim shoulders of what was now a lovely little dress like forgotten gold before rather disturbingly beginning to pull itself up in curls. These ringlets drew up like soft springs and framed a face that was still changing.  
  
Duo watched the cheek bones draw in a little, and actually saw the red appear high on them like the setting sun. He watched the eyes change as well, not in shade but in the slightly more feminine way they rose and in the vague hints of blue that appeared over the lids. He saw that beautiful pliant mouth, the prince's mouth that he'd dreamt of kissing, grow ever so gracefully more plush and pink. It was a woman's mouth, turned down in stern anger. The changes had stopped and when Duo drew out of his shock enough to look over the complete metamorphosis, he saw the woman who haunted his wall in voices of paint and in graves of an artist's flowerbed. The dying king's long lost doll queen, Elizabeth, stood there before them as if summoned from the grave by her name like some child-whispered ghost tale in the darkest of night.  
  
He could have stared at that newly revealed unearthly vision until the day he died in frozen terror, clutching Quatre to himself while his mind screamed at him that human souls weren't meant to see such things, but a low and raspy scream from the king caused him to tear his eyes away and turn.  
  
The old man on the throne was clawing at his own face. Duo winced back in horror as ragged yellow fingernails gouged into the papery flesh along his cheeks and pulled long cuts like gaping mouths, blood as red as any youth's bubbling up and violently flowing down the creature's shrieking face. The prophet gagged as that red soup of life ran into the king's open wailing mouth and was exhaled into the air like an apocalyptic cloud with his next wheezing breath.  
  
_He should be dead… Oh god, why won't he just die now?!_ Duo shrank back and stumbled a few unsteady feet as the being drew it's hands up and started ripping chunks of it's mostly bald scalp off, tossing them to the side like gruesome confetti at some funeral parade. As if that vision weren't enough right now, his backward retreat suddenly brought a cold wave over him, and Duo did start to whimper himself as the form of Elizabeth suddenly started appearing before him. He could only make out the front of her face, turned away from him, and yet for some reason he couldn't see the back of her head, just the back of those childish features. It was as if… _Merciful darkness!! I'm in her! I just-- I JUST WALKED THROUGH QUATRE'S DEAD MOTHER AND I'M STILL IN HER!!   
_  
That frightening realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and not caring about any scrapes or bruises to himself, Duo just threw himself backwards as hard as he could. The cold veil left him in a rush and the slightly warmer air of the throne room crowded in on him like a blessing. He landed heavily on his ass, bouncing on the carpet with a teeth rattling thump before skidding to a halt about seven feet from the childish specter. In his arms Quatre let out a sigh of protest and a small hand wound into Duo's shirt like a lifeline. Jumping at that grip momentarily, Duo looked down at the pale boy who slept blissfully on and envied him his ignorance on what was happening. He clutched Quatre to himself and looked up again, helplessly not to watch the destruction of sanity occurring in front of him.  
  
Elizabeth never noticed or at least didn't mind the interruption of one demon prophet tripping his way through her, her gaze never left the writhing bloody mass of a king. She stood where she was for nearly a minute after Duo's crash landing as the King wailed away on his seat like only those that have heard their own mind snap can. It was when one gnarled old hand reached up and into his mouth, then emerged with a flapping bit of pink flesh that Duo sickly identified as his tongue that she finally moved.  
  
The little girl silently made her way up to the chair, the tiny slippers on her feet not whispering against the carpets and the folds of her dress never brushing against each other and emitting that normally seduction hiss of fabric. She walked forward until the tips of those little shoes were only an inch from the chair legs, and then she smiled at the mess of her killer.  
  
Old hands fell away from the tattered ruin of a face and even from his far off location, Duo saw the king's yellowed eyes roll wildly up to that somewhat transparent face of the not-child ghost. He froze in much the same way the king did, helpless in the face of the completely unnatural. And when the girl spoke for the first time, it was a voice from beyond the worlds. Sweet as it had undeniably been when Quatre's mother played in the gardens and laughed at the sun over head, it was still that way now, but underneath Duo knew he heard the bubbling laugh of the creatures just underneath the rift of this plane. Dead was still dead, and once something had been touched by that decaying grip, things were tainted no matter who they'd been. Elizabeth from what he'd heard had been sweet and the kindest of souls, and though that essence was still hinted at in this ghost, it was like the threads of a rope popping apart under a very heavy strain… He didn't want to be there when it snapped. His ears tried to reject that young bell-like call when it came to him.  
  
"You have been judged, dear husband… And you are expected."  
  
As tremors quaked through his form, the wide violet eyes of one terrified and less then innocent bystander watched an ethereal hand rise from within the shifting folds of a dress that couldn't have been there. The delicate little fingers, so like those that were currently wrapped in his shirt really, lightly brushed over one of the candelabras to the side of the king. Then with sudden decision, the hand wrapped around the metal and yanked.  
  
Brilliant yellow and crimson flames erupted over the king's crippled form like he'd been made of oil and paper, and that brief second of silence Elizabeth's presence had granted was shattered as screams broke free like glass shattering. He was burning alive while the dead watched and within seconds the thick smoky sent of burning flesh washed over Duo's senses… Still those cries grew louder, shrieks the hit the roof and then piled there nearly visibly as if trying to alert something just outside of this mortal coil.   
  
Duo finally could stand no more. Between his dry heaves from that persistent stench that was everywhere now and the cries he couldn't even raise his hands to block, he was in a state of panic. And even with as loud as those death agonies were, he could hear the king's skin popping and boiling, charring on his bones. He whipped around and crawled on his knees towards the safe retreat of the large wooden doors only yards away, head down and eyes on the floor as he struggled to get himself and the prince out of here before the entire room could catch light.   
  
And he almost made it out without incident too. When he was finally five feet from the closed portal, wondering why he couldn't hear people outside trying to get in (it was there stupid old king who'd just become a human torch after all), he tiredly found a way to his feet. Looking up to find the handle and push the doors open to their path of freedom, he found the little blue dressed ghost standing **right** in front of him and staring up at him with a thoughtful expression etched on her dead features. Duo didn't even have the mind sense left to scream…  
  
Cool cerulean eyes flew over his face in a calculated way and right now he saw none of that innocent wariness and peaceful interest he'd found in Quatre's mirror image orbs. She may as well have been deciding which way was best to snap his neck for all Duo knew. Then one transparent little hand started to reach up, not for him but for the prince in his arms, and Duo decided ghost or not he'd had enough.  
  
He jumped back instinctively and pulled Quatre's small body tightly against his chest, snarling at the creature angrily-- "Don't you **DARE** touch him! You can kill me if you want, light me on fire like he who wronged you, but you won't touch him!"  
  
Even as it dawned dimly in his mind that he'd probably just killed then both, Elizabeth's chilly laughter erupted. The ghost smiled softly and Duo thought he saw that blind malice wash out of them as her eyes lowered to Quatre's sleeping face and then back up to his. She set her arm back down and spoke softly, and though that voice still made Duo's skin crawl it wasn't as bad as the message she'd set upon the king. "I shall harm neither of you. I chose you, didn't I? And to destroy you now would undo anything I've tried to accomplish. I'd never hurt him… At least I'd never try too, but sometimes it seems I am forgetting just what things used to mean to me…"  
  
"You forget? You mean that other world and the things there, they-"  
  
Elizabeth cut him off with a quick head shake, one that sent curls that Duo knew weren't really there tumbling around her face. "It's best not to mention them, little prophet." She laughed again, this time at that title as if enjoying some private joke, then continued-- "I should go before I can't control that again though… You have done what I hoped you would since I first watched you enter this tomb, and as much as I can, I give you my blessings now. My child is free, and he is in good, if not somewhat clumsy, hands. Take care of him and keep him close to you, and remember that I watch."  
  
And before Duo could even question her why she picked him, and how she was involved-- Oh, he had his ideas though. Those glimpses of what the prince could be that had drawn his interests, and the help he'd gotten along the way-- she was fading away like nothing more then fog as the sun rose. First she lightened and Duo could clearly see the door behind her, and then it seemed she just drifted apart. At the same instance he realized she was completely gone he also noticed he could no longer hear the King's screams behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know that Elizabeth had come and taken her husband back with her. The king was dead and the only thing he'd have seen on that throne was a pile of still burning limbs that vaguely resembled a man. … And not a very good one at that.  
  
Taking just a second to gather himself, Duo closed his eyes and started forward again, stopping to shift Quatre and reach one hand out in order to open the door. When he stepped through he wasn't surprised not to see the hordes of armed guards that had escorted him there, more likely then not the Queen's arrival had sent them running like mice, but he was surprised to see Wufei picking his uncertainly on the very far end of the main hall and looking a bit shaken. He was currently nudging at one discarded shield with a shoe and looked puzzled, and when Duo quietly called his name with head jerked up like it was on springs.  
  
"Duo! You're all right! … And you have the prince." Wufei's black doe eyes moved from his face to rove over the limp form in the prophet's arms. "Is he hurt?"  
  
He shook his head and started tiredly making his way to the last of the present guards, relieved just to know something hadn't happened to them. If Wufei was here looking for him, then Heero was undoubtedly safe already. "He's just unconscious. We… We ran into a little trouble and he fainted."  
  
A snort. "A little trouble? Heero and I decided to get some horses after all and were waited outside the gate for you. We've given up on this heap of stones and decided to assist you as far as we could on our own way to a new life… We saw the guards and the maids and other staff come running out of the castle like ants and grabbed one to question. You got caught." It sounded like an accusation and right now Duo didn't have the strength to argue it.  
  
"Yeah, we were caught. But we're free now and no one's going to get in our way. Still got those horses out there?" Duo winced as something behind him broke with a splintery crash, probably whatever it was was on fire and couldn't stand the strain any more. But Wufei's attention darted that way keenly and he gasped.  
  
"Duo! That room's on fire!!"  
  
"Keen man you are, my good ol' buddy. Trust me, leave it to burn and lets you and I get the hell out of here, what do you say? And the darling prince of course."  
  
The black eyes didn't leave the fire for a few seconds, then Wufei just nodded and moved to walk back through the front door. He glanced over his shoulder right before they stepped through the door. "you look tired… Do you want me to take him for a bit?"  
  
Duo just shook his head and held the blonde a little tighter. "No. He doesn't weigh much and even if he did, I think I could carry him for a thousand miles and never feel tired enough to want to put him down."  
  
He just got an eye roll in return as Wufei mentally ranted about the foolishness of young love and promises too soon made. But the exotic guard lead the way on without offering again. They slipped out into the night, and Duo looked around in amazement that it could still be dark when it felt like he'd spent an eternity inside that room. Pacing impatiently in the gate as promised was Heero, the reigns of two horses hanging from his hands and the beautiful black beasts themselves standing only a few feet away and looking bored.  
  
At the sight of his lover Heero's foots stopped and he wanted for them to approach in silence, though that broke as soon as they were within five feet. "What's wrong with him?"  
  
Wufei gave Heero a surprisingly fond smile and reached for one of the set of reigns. "Nothing. Passed out, he'll be fine… Duo did a good enough job." he turned and offered the leads to the horse over to Duo. "This one's yours. Two was the safest amount we could get, and besides I figured you'd be wanting to ride with the prince… You will have to hand him to me before you get on though, but he'll be okay."  
  
The prophet found that to be one of the hardest things he'd ever done, handing that thin waifish blonde to the guard. He took a second to stretch himself out, eyes never leaving Quatre's sleeping face as Wufei carefully held him and as Quatre's slumbering form held the quiet again kitten, then flipped himself onto the horse with quite a bit of effort. He balanced on the saddle and took a little bit to get used to it, then looked down to see Heero carefully strapping a bag to the horses side. It was of course the backpack that had been out of place near the green house. They'd gone back to retrieve it and wanted to be damned sure he didn't forget it now.  
  
When Heero was finished and satisfied with the straps, he nodded to Wufei then moved to get onto his own horse, petting the creature's mane and watching the black haired youth approach Duo's mount. He glanced down at the boy's face thoughtfully before going about very carefully hefting Quatre up to the braided male, making for certain Duo had a good grip on him before finally being willing to back away. "He has a good soul… And so do you. I think you two will be happy together."  
  
Violet eyes blinked at him in surprise, then Duo's tired face broke into a smile. "I think so too. I hope so anyway… At the very least, he'll be happy if it kills me."  
  
Wufei raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. "He looks like he's going to be the curious sort when he finally opens up, so it just might."   
  
Laughing, Duo nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised. So you guys will follow me?"  
  
"As far as we travel in the same direction, then we will part and send our best wishes with you and he, and only hope to hear from you eventually."  
  
"I'll keep in contact, I promise. Without you two, I wouldn't have gotten this far."  
  
Wufei snorted, "At least we agree on something."  
  
Instead of being insulted, the brunette laughed at the comment and turned to start leading his horse through the castle gates and towards the town. Quatre was balance carefully on the saddle and against his chest, and the steady pulse of warmth from his breath against Duo's throat was a comfort. He heard Wufei jogged to his horse and heard Heero help him up, then they were riding beside him and looking like every pair of friends riding into the sunset of every faerie tale. Only the observant would notice the way Wufei's arms around Heero were just a little comfortable, and the way Heero had a look of contentment in his eyes to match no other.  
  
Their ride together ended far to soon for Duo's liking. They reached the edge of the wintry forest and when he announced he planned to ride north through it and eventually head to the beaches of the turquoise seas, they sadly told him they were heading east towards Wufei's homelands to start anew there. It felt too soon and too final to the exhausted prophet, but he kept a straight face as he said his good-byes and watched them ride away with promises to write or visit once both parties had settled into a steady schedule. He waited there on his horse with the prince in his arms until they were no more then a speck on the other side of the peaceful and still sleeping town, then he waited a while more until they were nothing at all…  
  
Ten minutes later, Duo sighed heavily and instinctively erased some of his sorrows by gently nuzzling the prince's hair, closing his eyes and reveling in the silken softness as he tried to think. Considering the day he'd had, it was a hard task. But at last the man who'd ridden into this kingdom as a hopeful shadow looking for no more then some gold lightly kicked the flanks of the black horse and started through the leafless and reaching branches of the forest towards whatever life might be waiting just beyond.  
  



	13. In Our Dreams

-In Our Dreams-  
  
_Two months later.  
_  
Duo stared in amusement as the creature stalked him, watching the fluffy and pudgy black tail weave through the high strands of ocean grass that surrounded this area and their home. He pretended to look away when a little black and white spotted head emerged to watch him pensively, then looked back as it lowered and the creature continued on. The beast dropped down low and wiggled it's haunches, preparing to pounce and apparently destroy the innocent life of Duo's left hand.   
  
Right as the creature sprung, the brunette reached up and caught it around it's middle, flipping it into his lap and playfully roughing up the fur over it's stomach. "Thought ya had me that time, didn't you, Miramoor?"  
  
The kitten let out an indignant mewl and struggled to right itself and then stalked off Duo's lap with his nose up. He watched the kitten's wobbly walk as it moved to sit a few feet from him and start prissily bathing itself and scowled at how it could hardly reach it's back paws because of all the extra layers of fat that surrounded it's little body.   
  
"Spoiled you, hasn't he? Gone and ruined a perfectly good cat by turning it into a contented little ball of lard, that's what he's done."  
  
The cat looked up at him curiously at the voice, stared for a bit, then let out another cry and apparently having forgiven him (or perhaps just hoping that Duo had some tasty tidbit to share) plowed it's way back over.  
  
As the young braided male lightly stroked his companion, he looked around the beautiful meadow with a soft smile. Things had gone all right. Despite his worries, everything was moving along. Maybe it wasn't as well as he'd -dreamed-, but it was still better then he'd dared to voice out loud… Violet eyes lit on the cottage several yards off and at the thin trendle of smoke creeping up into the afternoon sky. _Uh oh_, he thought, he's _trying to cook again…_ The prince had displayed a natural interest in the art of cooking, and although his talent was still a little lacking and Duo had eaten many slightly crispy and burnt meals with a big smile on his face, he had passion and would probably get better. And it wasn't as if Miramoor complained when a plate of seared bacon was kindly deposited before his fat little form.  
  
It wasn't a house, certainly not the sweeping mansion of a rich man or the castle of a king, but it was nice and it suit them. The three bedrooms were more then they needed, though in his wildest daydreams Duo thought they could only needed one if he could only get the nerve up to approach the blonde on that level, but they were nice rooms and between him talking of Wufei and Heero eventually popping in and Quatre's fleeting hop that one day Trowa would show up at their door, they kept the extra room between them well cared for. It was cute too… In all his life on the road Duo had never imagined himself living in a 'cute' anything, but here he was now. It had it's own little garden out back, surrounded with a nice short picket white fence, and Quatre had developed some pretty protective green thumb issues. Not that Duo minded of course, there was just something about seeing the former prince seeing there surrounded by dirt, waving a hand shovel and talking to the carrots.  
  
Each of the little shuttered windows had it's own flowerbox too, and that was something he discovered he really didn't mind at all. It was kind of nice to lean out the window in the early morning to check the weather and have the fresh scent of daisies right there to inhale. Water came from a hand pump in the back that was a pain in the early mornings. The whole thing was kept warm by a little iron stove right in the middle of the den area, and very quickly he'd learned that was his task. Finding wood wasn't a problem, not with the young forest that surrounded and cut off this peak from the rest of the land, but it had taken him a bit to get used to all the work. The first time he'd come home with a stack a wood (Quatre in tow of course, he had found the prince didn't much like him out of his sight) he'd collapsed on his bed and woken up the next morning to discover he could hardly move anything without wanting to cry out in pain. … But it was a life, and it was his and he wouldn't trade it in for anything.   
  
Plus, it was easier in a lot of ways then the life he'd begun with. When they'd stopped in that town the first night and Quatre had finally woken, that had been tough. He'd spent the countless hours before dawn holding the small shaking form and trying to calm him down. And for the first week after that, every time Quatre had dozed it had been uneasily, often waking Duo with his screams and being unable to drift off again until he hand at least one hand resting somewhere on Duo's body like an anchor to this world… And on those nights he was chilled to find he could smell a hint of something burning in the air, something that had once been alive. But that first morning he'd told Quatre his plans, about wanting to get a house somewhere and wanting to start some kind of new, sane existence. The boy's reaction had surprised him-- Quatre had burst into tears.  
  
It had taken Duo nearly an hour to calm him down, and when he had he finally got something out of the prince that both alarmed and amused him. Quatre had thought he meant by himself and that they were parting ways right then. He did his best to reassure the blonde, stroking his back and saying of course not, they were stuck together now, weren't they? And when the tears were entirely gone, the boy'd looked up at him and asked the strangest question he could right then.  
  
'Do you love me?'  
  
It wasn't something he was sure how to answer. After a few seconds he could only nod into Quatre's baby soft hair and then the night just went on with neither of them speaking about it or about anyone going anywhere.  
  
The next day Duo had told him about the box of gems and jewelry, and although he showed it too Quatre, he was somewhat relieved that the boy really showed no interest in them. Quatre looked up from where he had been sitting on the inn bed, frowned and told him to sell it all… And together the had. They got more money then Duo'd ever earned in all the rest of his life for that box of small trinkets, enough to live off provided they were carefully. And then Quatre asked for the box too. He sold that and with Duo laughing in the background, decided he was going to buy 'their' baby cat something too. He ended up getting the now fat cat a tiny bell like collar, one that he'd already grown out of, and the rest of that money from the box alone had gone to buying them food for a month and a half, and having a stable built (for the black horse Quatre had immediately dubbed 'Sir Rags') out back of the cottage they'd bought.  
  
Those first few weeks were something he knew he'd never forget. Wufei had been right and there were many times he ran himself ragged just to stop an overly curious Quatre from stumbling into some dangerous circumstance. But all in all he couldn't have been happier. Watching that shy little prince adapt to the world was like learning to see everything all over again himself. It had taken away some of his cynicism and had given him hope in return. Duo thought he had received the better end of that deal.

-----  
  
And speaking (or thinking) of the little klutz of an angel, Duo glanced up in time to see the door of their home burst open and Quatre come running out. Each time he saw the blonde he couldn't help but feel a little proud. The beautiful creature that was jogging through the tall grass and already babbling something at him and wearing an apron over his normal clothes was miles from the weak and frail boy he'd carried out of the ruin of the kingdom.   
  
Through all the food Duo'd introduced him to and just being able to move around and be in the light, Quatre had filled out and blossomed better then he could have hoped for. He wasn't the angel Duo'd thought he loved at first, but he was glad for that. He never wanted to see that empty look he had only noticed at the last second in this boy's lovely eyes. Quatre was utterly his own person, and that was a person Duo thought he'd never see the equal too if he lived to be a thousand and traveled to a million different worlds.  
  
"Duo!! Loooook!!"   
  
He was shaken out of his thoughts as the blonde plowed up to him and thrust a still steaming iron tray of something under his nose. He managed to tear his eyes off the beaming face of the blonde only by effort, though he realized it was getting harder and harder to do and he was going on borrowed time now, in order to look down at… A loaf of bread. He blinked at it then looked up at Quatre and grinned. "Finally got one, huh?"  
  
The blonde plopped down in front of him and in a flash Miramoor was off Duo and scrambling up the prince's leg, little nose sniffing a mile a minute at the scent of food and mouth opening in a whine up at Quatre. "Uh huh! I kept wanting to check but I managed to let it stay in there the whole time, and when I finally opened it it had risen and it didn't collapse or anything!" Absently the boy plucked a steaming bit of the crust off and blew on it, then offered it down to the black and white blob sitting on his knee.  
  
Duo frowned and poked a finger at the beast's belly playfully. "You're cat is fat."  
  
"Duo! No he's not! He's just big boned, and he's healthy for his age!"  
  
"He's fat."  
  
"He isn't he's just still growing!"  
  
"He's fat."  
  
"Duo! He's… He's just…" Quatre sighed and stopped, watching the kitten gobble up the bread then look expectantly up at him for more. "He is, isn't he? Well, that's not so bad. He doesn't need to be anything but my pet so I don't care if he's fat, or bald, or if he only had three legs! I love him and that's all that matters, isn't it?"  
  
He couldn't really argue with logic like that. The brunette smiled and reached out to grab Quatre by the waist, pulling him willingly into his lap and resting his chin on his shoulder as they both watched the cat. After a few minutes Quatre picked the tray up again and set the cooling thing in the grass with a little smile, laughing joyfully when the kitten literally pounced the loaf of bread and began trying to wolf down something larger then him. Duo thought it was a battle the loaf of bread was going to lose. "I don't mind if he's fat as long as he's happy."  
  
That brought a question flooding into the braided boy's mind. He reached a hand around Quatre's slender (but thankfully no longer gaunt) frame and nabbed the boy's chin to turn his face towards him. "Are you happy now, Quatre?"  
  
Wide eyes stared into Duo's, eyes that were nearly the exact same color as the untamable waves crashing against the shore just at the bottom of the small cliff on which their house rested. Then a sunny smile blossomed on his lips and Quatre leaned in to nuzzle his face against Duo's cheek. "I'm happy."  
  
It was the brushes like this that made Duo feel like his control was going to snap. Quatre was one of the most naturally cuddly people he'd met, and it made his anti-pounce efforts harder then he could stand. He took a shaky breath, shivering as he felt the boy's warm breath brush over his ear and nearly feeling his eyes cross as Quatre started talking again right into that little alcove of sensitive flesh. "I can barely even remember what my old room looked like now, isn't that strange? I'm sure I could if I **really** wanted too, but I don't. I don't think I care if I lose that memory now. I have you, don't I? We can make our own things to remember, right?"  
  
"Mm, we can do anything you want too, Quatre." Raising a hand, Duo lightly stroked the boy's back. It was about all he allowed himself to do most of the time, that and touching that hair… But he probably couldn't stop that if Quatre whined about it. It was like the golden locks just begged to be fondled. Like falling into a dream, that's what he felt like whenever he held the little ex-prince.  
  
"Anything?"  
  
If he'd been more alert he probably would have caught some of the curiosity and anxiousness just under the surface of that one word, as it was he just nodded contentedly against the blonde's cheek. "Anything at all."  
  
The silence that followed was long enough that eventually Duo drew back to look at Quatre's face and see if he'd done or said something wrong. What he saw there surprised him. The blonde was looking off towards the ledge of the cliff and nibbling at his lower lip in heavy thought, cheeks flushed slightly. Duo raised a hand and let his long pale fingers play over that rosy color as he carefully asked- "Quatre? What's wrong?"  
  
Those sea storm eyes slowly turned back to him and Quatre stole Duo's breath away with his answer. "Duo… Do you love me?"  
  
"I love you." He nodded and answered without hesitation, looking over the boy's pale face fondly and realizing he'd never spoken truer words.  
  
Some of the worried weight left Quatre eyes and boy gave him a slow and timid smile, squirming around in Duo's lap (and earning a rather bothered hiss for his motions) until he could loop his arms around the brunette's shoulders. "Then… W-will you… Love me?"  
  
"I just told you I did, didn't--" Duo blinked and stared at Quatre's flushed face with huge eyes, watching the boy look to the side slightly and nod his head in confirmation of the unspoken question. "Oh…"  
  
"Quatre… Are you sure? I mean… That's…" He watched Quatre's expression closely, damning himself for his own questions when all he really wanted was to just lay the boy back and take him up on the sweet offer. He was amazed he could even think clearly with it now in the air and an actual possibility instead of just a dream. "It's a big step. And an important one. I don't want to do something like that to you if you aren't sure. … That's because I do love you, and I couldn't stand to do that and hurt you, or to do that when you aren't ready. I'm willing to wait for you…"  
  
"I'm sure." The blonde looked back to the other boy and nibbled his lip shyly. "I can feel it… What you want and what you think of when I'm near. I know what you've been feeling, Duo… It scared me a little at first, just like I got scared when Trowa felt it too. But with you--" He shrugged softly, then leaned in to lightly let his lips brush against Duo's pale cheek. "I like what I feel from you, and it makes me want to know. Your dreams… I want to do what you dream about after everything is still."  
  
At first he felt sure he could just die of shock that as much as he'd been trying to hide it, the poor blonde had been having to deal with his advances anyway, only in a way he didn't know about and wasn't sure he -could- have stopped. Then the truth of the situation clicked in his mind and that didn't seem to matter so much.  
  
Duo shifted around on the grass for a moment, then looped his arms gently around Quatre's lower back. He leaned forward and allowed gravity to gently pull the boy towards the soft grass, laying him back and watching the way he looked framed in the natural environment. Blonde hair clung to some of the strands as he descended, and now with that flushed and watchful face, with his arms releasing Duo and coming to rest carelessly amongst the summer plants, Quatre looked like every artists' flawless interpretation of an angel on earth.  
  
As the boy watched him trustingly, Duo slowly rested a hand near Quatre's throat, then let it trace down the boy's slender chest and come to a stop at his waist. His heart soared a little at the surprised gasp that action got him from the blonde and at the way he seemed helplessly not to squirm a little under the contact. Looping his fingers into the white straps of the apron, Duo traced it along to the back and urged him with touches to lift his waist a bit so he could get at the floppy knot in the back.  
  
Once his nimble fingers had picked apart that first barrier, Duo pulled the straps out from around Quatre and pulled the other loop from around his head, tossing the bundle of white cloth aside carelessly. He took a moment then just to look down on the beautiful image the boy made, then bent his head down to ever so lightly kiss Quatre's mouth.  
  
He couldn't have prayed for a better reaction in all of the untold dreams he'd had. At first Quatre's mouth was still beneath his, soft and pliant as a rose bud, and then he began to kiss him back slowly. Those first returned presses of Quatre's lips were like the questioning brushes of a butterfly landing on a flower, and then he felt the small hand stroking his cheek and heard the low purring sound the boy was making. If being free had changed him so much and made him all the more stunning, this moment was doing that tenfold.  
  
Caught in the growing current of pleasure, Quatre didn't even notice or care when Duo's hand lowered and started toying with the ties on his white shirt. He went along with it as those leather strands came undone and as Duo's hand pulled the fabric away from his chest, pushing it off to the side then almost tentatively stroking his fingers along the bottom of Quatre's smooth stomach. When that flawless cream flesh twitched instinctively away from his questing fingers, he smiled against the blonde's mouth and finally broke away. Nuzzling the side of Quatre's panting mouth, he murmured- "Are you still sure?"  
  
"Y-yes! I'm sure, Duo… T-that just tickles!" Quatre wiggled under his hand and gave the braided boy a pleading look with his eyes.  
  
"Just… Tell me if it goes too far and you feel uncomfortable, okay?" Not waiting for a response, Duo dipped his head down and to the gentle incline of the angelic youth's throat. He kissed along his collar bone, taking a second here and there to nip at that lovely skin before moving on and each time feeling absurdly pleased when he got a startled gasp from the blonde.  
  
As he lightly bit the spot just under Quatre's ear and held on there sucking lightly, his hands slide along from Quatre's waist to his sides, letting his fingers claw gently down the ribs he still thought were just a bit too prominent. They moved down and then he let his fingers work between Quatre's flesh and the fabric of his pants, just brushing the skin beneath in warning as he worked them slowly to the front and the next obstacle of ties, all the while making a mental note to avoid string anything next time they went clothes shopping.  
  
Quatre was letting out a steady stream of whimpering cries as Duo continued to suckle onto his throat and when the brunette at last got his pants undone and started slipping them done his legs, he slide his hands around Duo's neck and wrapped them possessively around the chestnut braid that draped down Duo's back and swayed just above the grass beside them. Arching himself up to help, Quatre took the opportunity to apply feather light kisses all along Duo's shoulders wherever he could reach.  
  
Finally the breaches came free of Quatre's gracefully legs, and Duo balled them up and threw them to join the apron as he regretfully released the boy's neck. He left the shirt hanging open around Quatre's shoulders, loving the way the excess cloth pooled around his waist and slipped childishly down one nearly white and deliciously round shoulder. A blush rose quickly to the small angel's cheeks as Duo obviously glanced over and admired his otherwise bare, and now noticeably pleased, body. Then the half-blood raised his hands to begin quickly undoing his own clothing. Quatre's small hand stopped him on the first bow.  
  
"Let me?"  
  
With a smile Duo let his hands fall away. He tipped his head up and watched the blue summer skies and pillowy white clouds shift over head as the prince pulled free the ties then slowly removed the shirt from his upper body altogether. He didn't look down when the boy stopped, and didn't try to hide the soft moan that came when Quatre's little fingers made a slow trail over his abdomen.   
  
When warm lips pressed to the center of his pecs though he couldn't help but glance down. Quatre's eyes were closed, the dark soot of his lashes bold against the marble of his cheeks. He was mostly kneeling before Duo, like some strange worshipper at an alter of flesh. His hands slowly worked at the ties of Duo's pants as he just kissed that area reverently.   
  
The image was enough to make Duo feel the hot passion he'd been hiding in his blood for two months now come to a boil and shoot straight to his loins. With a soft sound of apology he nudged Quatre back, smiling in reassurance when that young face turned up to his in worry. Duo lightly pressed on the center of Quatre's chest. "It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong… J-just… Lay back, okay?"  
  
"Okay." The blonde scooted back a ways, then slowly laid himself down again. He rested unselfconsciously on his back with his hands folded peacefully over his stomach, his eyes fixed on Duo keenly as the other boy quickly undid the fastenings and rid himself of that last article.   
  
He barely managed to hold himself still as Quatre's eyes swept over his now uncovered body, noting with some satisfaction the way the blonde's eyes dropped to his arousal and widened, and then shivering uncontrollably when Quatre licked his lips nervously with a flash of baby pink tongue. Then those cerulean orbs were on his and he saw first hand the infinite trust in them. It was all the answer he ever needed.  
  
Duo gently lowered himself to stretch over Quatre, the first contact between them both sending surprised hisses of breath into the sweet summer air. Their lips met and though they started slow, soon Duo was pressing insistently and moaning into the heated meeting, and Quatre was kissing back with just as much desire. The brunette shifted carefully and rubbed the aching strain of his erection against the smooth silk of Quatre's inner thighs, and when those legs moved apart with an honest groan of pleasure from the blonde he thought he was glimpsing into the only heaven mortals can ever know. He broke their kiss to slide a hand up against Quatre's cheek, keeping himself in some state of control only by rocking himself slowly against the boy's leg. "Quatre… I need… Here."  
  
He brushed a pair of fingers over the boy's rosy lips and sighed in relief when Quatre didn't ask but just did the natural thing of pulling the digits into his mouth and sucking lightly. That pulling sensation and the way the dark lashes fluttered while Quatre did so, not to mention the low moans he could feel humming through his fingers like shockwaves, did little to help his heavily aroused state.  
  
Quickly he pulled his fingers free of that teasing mouth, smiling at Quatre when his eyes flashed open and his lips pulled into an adorable pout. That expression was gone in a flash when Duo moved himself slightly to the side and slowly traced one finger across the tense bud of Quatre's opening though. The boy let out a breathy cry and started to sit up, mouth already moving to form questions. Duo just used his other hand to brace it on his chest and hold him down, shaking his head lightly and looking down at the prince with serious violet eyes. "Just trust me…"  
  
Quatre stilled immediately. Eyes that were still wide and just a little apprehensive stayed on Duo's caring orbs as the brunette again brushed his opening. This time when he bit back a stunned moan, the demon slowly pressed a finger into the tight clench of Quatre's body. He held Quatre's shaking form steady as he gently worked that digit in and out of him, and when the boy's moans had shifted from guarded cries of pleasure to nearly pleading whimpers, he withdrew and added another finger. He worked these in and out of that small form, knowing no matter how long he spent it was probably going to be a little rough on Quatre anyway, the boy was just a little too small still and neither of them had anywhere near the patience now to just wait or the supplies to ensure no pain at all. The only thing he could hope for was to get past the hurting part quickly and draw Quatre into the waves of passion before his petite love could regret his sweet offer. He felt inside of Quatre for that small bundle of nerves that had made all the difference with the people he'd been with in the past, and knew when he'd struck it because of the way Quatre suddenly arched off the ground and broke into little goose bumps of excitement. "Oooh! D-duo! Wha-?"  
  
Smiling secretively at Quatre frantic and questioning eyes, he scissored his fingers within the inner warmth for another moment, carefully nudging that little area every so often and sending Quatre into a squawk of adorable pleas. "Duo please! That feels--" Even those begging calls were cut in half by the blonde's gasps and moans. When Quatre was so riled he actually looked ready to just get up and find his own way to relieve his distressed state, Duo finally removed his fingers and laid his hand in the grass beside Quatre's trembling waist.  
  
The blonde peered up at him with dazed eyes, rocking in his senseless state of delirium. Duo laid a hand on one cheek and held his attention long enough to speak with him. "Quatre… It'll hurt at first, I can't help that. But then it'll feel better, I promise. I love you and I'd never do anything to you that would leave you feeling bad, you know that, don't you?"  
  
He blinked through the hazy fog Duo's touch had given him, then managed a small smile and nodded, lifting his head to kiss the side of his mouth. "I know."  
  
With that admission still in his ears, Duo braced himself and pushed himself lightly against Quatre's stretched entrance. He watched the boy's expression as he started to slowly apply pressure and enter Quatre's tight form, frowning at the slight shimmer of tears that appeared in his eyes but being reassured when Quatre saw him looking and gave a tiny smile. The blonde made his hands release the grass they were tightly holding and brought them to wrap lovingly around Duo's shoulders.  
  
It was a slow and careful process, but one Duo wasn't willing to make any mistakes with. When at last he was fully inside Quatre and nearly fainting himself with the way that incredibly hot orifice clenched around him, he paused and brought a hand up to wipe the now damp locks away from Quatre's crimson kissed face. _I love you… I have since before I knew it was you and I will until the day I know no more…_  
  
Quatre opened his eyes, his panting breaths slowing a little as he stared up at Duo's face and smiled softly. "I know. I started loving you in my dreams years before you came."  
  
There was the proof of something Duo'd wondered about, right before him and clear as day, and right now it just didn't mean much more then something else that made Quatre more special to him. Here was a boy that didn't feel what the rest of the world felt when with him, and here was someone who'd been ripped apart from all he knew and didn't care as long as they were together and he was never left behind. Duo had found his place in the world and he found it in Quatre's innocently knowing gaze.  
  
When they started to move together it was like music. Everything fit and made sense for that brief period of time and the world stopped around them to sigh in happiness. He rocked within Quatre's slender frame and the blonde arched up to meet him each time. As the passion built between them and threatened to either take them over or destroy them completely, they fell into it willingly and together. Duo closed his eyes against a wave of unexpectedly grateful tears as he felt himself spill within his lover's body, and Quatre clung to the body above him desperately as his own release exploded hotly between them.   
  
It was several moments before Duo even had the strength to lift his head from where it had fallen to rest on the blonde's shoulder, and when he did he found Quatre's eyes open and his mouth formed into the most blissful smile as he stared upwards. He couldn't bring himself to pull away just yet, he just turned his head to the side and lay there with the angel he'd freed from it's cage, watching the clouds move over head on that forever sleepy road that rested in what mortal men foolishly call the heavens. Around their joined forms the meadow grass sang and danced, and the forest swayed with a warm breeze that carried on it hints of a summer storm…

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((Fin... Though it sounds like it should continue in a way, doesn't it? In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading it, and would love to hear any comments or suggestions. Much thanks always. - Rayvn.))


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